Denny Slagle, president and chief executive officer of Mack Trucks Inc, participated in an event at the White House during which President Obama signed a presidential memorandum aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions and improving the fuel efficiency of medium- and heavy-duty trucks and buses.
The memorandum outlines principles agreed to by Mack, the US Department of Transportation (DOT), the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and other heavy-duty truck and engine companies. Also joining Obama were DOT Secretary Ray LaHood and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
“Participating in this effort is consistent with measures we already have in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our operations and our products,” Slagle said. “Mack joined the EPA’s Climate Leaders Program in 2004 as one of the original charter companies. We originally pledged to reduce GHG emissions by 20% per unit from 2003–2010. As a result of the numerous energy efficiency projects that have been implemented at our manufacturing and administrative locations, we actually reduced GHG emissions from our operations by 42% per unit, and did it two years ahead of schedule. We’ve since recommitted to the program and are well on our way to meeting an ambitious new goal.
“In addition to the good work at our facilities, we’ve also reduced the carbon footprints of our products. Using less fuel is good for our customers’ bottom lines as well as the environment. With the Mack ClearTech SCR technology we’re using to meet the EPA 2010 emission requirements, we’ve improved the fuel economy of our trucks by 5%—or more in some applications.