Even those who don’t want to be part of the green revolution can pocket fuel savings. The secret? Retraining employees how to properly drive company vehicles.

By getting employees to drive smarter — by eliminating jackrabbit starts and minimizing idling — companies of all sizes are cutting fuel costs and saving money.

It doesn’t matter whether companies are interested in protecting the planet or the corporate wallet, they end up doing both when their drivers learn how to drive economically. They usually cut fuel costs by 4%, according to Jason Mathers, the Environmental Defense Fund’s Green Driver project manager. Emission reductions can be as high as 14%.

The savings are obvious. What managers may not recognize, Mathers told the Chicago Sun-Times, is that for every gallon of fuel not used, a company avoids creating 19.5 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.

EDF has expanded its Green Driver program to target company fleet operations. The program is geared for both executives that get vehicles as company perks and workers driving various delivery vehicles.

The city of Chicago, with more than 10,000 city vehicles, cut fuel costs by $1.2 million a year by adopting an anti-idling campaign. It also installed devices on some city vehicles that shut off the engine when it idles more than three minutes. Building product manufacturer The Johns Manville company has enrolled 200 of its drivers in the EDF driving course.

EDF’s green driving program recommends that companies:

1. measure vehicle emissions and set reduction goals
2. improve vehicle selection process (for example offer hybrids instead of SUVs to company execs)
3. improve vehicle use
4. purchase carbon offsets, and
5. report on your progress.

The EDF Green Driver Web site also includes a calculator that lets you estimate fuel and carbon dioxide reductions. EDF also offers a fuel-smart driving handbook for free online.

Tags: EDF, fuel savings, Green Driver, Johns Manville