Sea-Tac Airport Awarded $5 Million for Green Electrification Project

U.S. Department of Energy Funding Through Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition

Seattle-Tacoma International Airport today was awarded $5 million in funds from the U.S. Department of Energy to add electric charging stations for airplane ground support equipment and replace 200 gas and diesel vehicles with electric vehicles, saving more than 400,000 gallons of fuel per year. The project jump starts Sea-Tac's efforts to be the first airport in the U.S. to fully electrify its fleet of ground support equipment.

In addition to the fuel savings, the project is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by more than 4,500 metric tons per year. Sea-Tac currently has about 650 ground support vehicles.

"The Port of Seattle is proud to be a partner in the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition and we're honored they are investing in our efforts to serve as a green gateway for travel and trade," said Port of Seattle CEO Tay Yoshitani. "The $5 million grant will help us further reduce air emissions and improve air quality for the region."

The focus of the project will be gasoline baggage tractors and loading equipment because they are large consumers of petroleum fuel at the airport. The project will install new electric charging stations on the ramp area. The grant money to purchase new electric vehicles will be matched in a cooperative effort by the Port of Seattle and airlines at Sea-Tac.

Earlier today, Vice President Joe Biden and Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced the selection of 25 cost-share projects under the Clean Cities program that will be funded with nearly $300 million from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The program will fund a range of energy efficient and advanced vehicle technologies to help reduce petroleum consumption across the U.S. For more information, visit the U.S. Department of Energy website at http://www1.eere.energy.gov/cleancities/projects.html or the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition at http://www.pugetsoundcleancities.org/.