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There’s nothing like a little community spirit to give a good cause some wheels.
For the past six months, 5,964 county employees and residents have acted on their pledge to improve their gas mileage and reduce the emission of harmful pollutants through the framework of the Drive $marter Challenge (D$C), the Alliance’s nationwide driving campaign. They were challenged by the National Association of Counties (NACo) through its Green Government initiative, and promised 1,000 free bottles of fuel additive courtesy of AutoZone for each winning county in three population categories (small counties, with less than 50,000; medium counties, with 50,000 to 250,000; and large counties, with more than 250,000).
In December, NACo announced the winners: of the large counties, Greenville County, S.C. had the greatest percentage of participants, while Monroe County, Fla., and Fluvanna County, Va., topped the charts for medium and small counties, respectively. Alliance President Kateri Callahan congratulated the winners, noting that “NACo’s tremendous outreach capabilities and committed membership have been instrumental in helping the Alliance to drive energy efficiency into the nation’s transportation sector.”
The great turnout seen by all counties was due to the hard work of community leaders who spread the message about energy efficiency and smart driving in a variety of ways. In Blue Earth County, Minn., for example, county officials held an event at a local Toyota car dealership as well as a pledge-collection event at the local Wal-Mart. Other counties spread the message through local media outlets, encouraging citizens to take the challenge on the D$C campaign website.
“The active participation…exemplifies the commitment of our nation’s counties to energy efficiency and environmentally friendly living,” said NACo Executive Director Larry E. Naake.
Indeed it does: through their combined efforts, these counties saved more than $23 million in energy costs (including more than $7 million dollars of gasoline saved) and avoided nearly 81,000 metric tons of CO2.
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