Fleet Gathering 2.0 Showcases Sustainable Efforts

An electric fire truck, garbage trucks running on methane from the local landfill, tires made from soybeans, and solar-powered charging stations for electric vehicles - those are just some of the exciting innovations highlighted at last week’s Fleet Gathering 2.0, the second in a series of fleet-focused events organized by the Sustainability Leaders Collaborative. The event brought together fleet personnel from communities across Dane County to share experience, information, and lessons learned as they work to make municipal fleet vehicles and operations more sustainable and climate friendly.

The event also included a tour of the City of Madison’s new Fleet Services Headquarters on Nakoosa Trail that had its Ribbon Cutting and Open House in June of this year. Attendees learned how the LEED Gold certified building’s sustainable design features, including rooftop solar, radiant heating also powered by the sun, and passive and efficient lighting, play an important role in helping fleet services minimize carbon emissions and address climate change.

“When it comes to the battle against climate change, the defining challenge of humanity, we are all in this together,” said Mahanth Joishy, City of Madison’s Fleet Superintendent. “We will sink or swim as one. That’s why we welcome partnership on fleet efforts from within Wisconsin, and beyond.”

This was just the latest gathering of the Sustainability Leaders Collaborative, a partnership of cities, towns, villages, and school districts across Dane county focused on accelerating climate change action. Since 2019, the collaborative has joined forces to share information, resources, and strategies in the areas of solar development, renewable transportation fuels, energy efficiency, and green infrastructure to reduce the impacts of flooding.

Kathy Kuntz, Director of the Dane County office of Energy and Climate Change, highlights the multiple benefits of these gatherings: “Every time we convene our local government partners to talk about clean energy solutions, it’s amazing. We learn from each other, we identify new opportunities to collaborate, and we strengthen our shared resolve to pursue opportunities that reduce emissions, save money, and increase community well-being.”

If you are part of a local government and interested in joining, please visit the Sustainability Leaders Collaborative website.