Daimler Trucks Portland HQ Scores Top Green-Building Rating

Photo: Daimler Trucks North America

Daimler Trucks North America announced that its new corporate headquarters building in Portland, Ore., has been awarded the Platinum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification.

The LEED Platinum certification is the highest rating that a building can receive from the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit that promotes sustainable building design, construction, and operation.

“Achieving LEED certification is more than implementing sustainable practices. It represents a commitment to making the world a better place and influencing others to do better,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, USGBC. "Given the extraordinary importance of climate protection and the central role of the building industry in that effort, Daimler Trucks North America demonstrates their leadership through their LEED Platinum certification of their Portland headquarters.”

To achieve a Platinum certification, DTNA focused on making certain aspects of the design and construction of the building as green as possible. The company said that during the building's construction, 95% of the demolition and construction waste was recycled from the project site.

Steps were also taken to reduce the headquarters' energy consumption through features such as LED lighting, an intelligently controlled radiant HVAC system, and onsite renewable energy.

The building also features a living green wall that was installed in the lobby to bring in the natural air cleaning benefits of vegetation absorbing CO2 and a green roof for storm water management.

“As a leader in the industry with a reputation for high standards in engineering and sustainable practices, we felt it was important to have our headquarters campus reflect those values,” said Martin Daum, president and CEO of Daimler Trucks North America. “As one of Portland's largest employers, we will now have a state-of-the-art work environment to inspire the great talent in our organization and to continue contributing to long-term prosperity in Portland.”

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Workhorse Touts Efficiency of its Electric Delivery Trucks

Photo: Workhorse

Workhorse Group has announced that its medium-duty electric trucks are up to six times more efficient than comparable gas- or diesel-powered models.

Using metrics from the companies Metron telematics system to track the first 250,000 miles driven by the vehicles, Workhorse calculated that its electric delivery truck models are achieving over 30 miles per gallon equivalent during normal use.

Mile-per-gallon equivalent is a measure of energy consumption and not fuel costs. It is calculated using the equivalent energy in a gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel converted into kilowatt-hours and comparing that to an electric motor producing the same amount of energy.

The U.S. Environmental Protection agency has established the standards for "MPGe" y pegging the energy content of a gallon of gasoline at around 34 kilowatt-hours. For diesel fuel, the energy content of a gallon is closer to 38 kilowatt-hours.

For Workhorse's comparison, the company said that a comparable delivery truck typically achieves 5-8 miles per gallon, or 5-8 miles per 34 kilowatt-hours of energy while its electric delivery vehicles can travel more than 30 miles on that same amount of energy.

"By achieving 30 MPGe with over 125 medium-duty trucks on the road, Workhorse is setting a new standard with our electric delivery vehicles," said Steve Burns, Workhorse CEO. "Medium-duty local delivery trucks are the backbone of the last-mile delivery system and a sixfold fuel economy increase as well as reduced maintenance and zero or near zero emissions are a major change to the conventional delivery system."

It is important to note that while MPGe is a good metric for determining vehicle efficiency, it does not translate directly to vehicle costs because a gallon of gasoline does not necessarily cost the same as 34 kilowatt-hours of electrical charge.

Workhorse's Metron telematics system allows fleet managers to monitor and manage the performance of fleet vehicles ...Read the rest of this story

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