FUEL SAVING * USA - Wal-Mart reaching fuel goals for truck fleet

Washington,DC,USA -Reuters, by Karey Wutkowski & Gary Hill -Jun 14, 2008: -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc is on track to reach its goal of increasing the fuel efficiency of its truck fleet by 25 percent this year and has already reached a 20 percent improvement, an executive said on Friday... The world's largest retailer also plans to introduce hybrid trucks into its fleet of more than 7,000 trucks later this year, said Matt Kistler, senior vice president of sustainability for Wal-Mart... Kistler said to reach the goal of increasing fuel efficiency, Wal-Mart has reduced the size of its diesel tanks to lighten the truck load and has outfitted the trucks with more fuel-efficient tires... Wal-Mart has worked on more high-tech initiatives such as a system that allows a driver to turn off the engine but keep the refrigeration component running... The fleet improvements come as fuel costs hit record highs, crimping retailers' profits...


* Italy - Trucking using less fuel



Rome,Italy -Reuters VIDEO, by Joanna Partridge -May 30, 2008: -- Mercedes Benz put their new trucks through their paces in an attempt to reduce fuel consumption and exhaust emissions... Two Actros heavy trucks were driven 10,000 kilometres, one on a test circuit in southern Italy and one in normal traffic on Italian roads... The aim was to monitor the impact of the trucks on the environment under ideal conditions and also on the roads to see how traffic, weather and driver behaviour influence fuel consumption... The truck driven on the test circuit proportionally consumed one litre of fuel per 100 kilometres, and emitted around 20 grams of CO2 per ton-kilometre...