An Ohio U. graduate student is proposing that the city of Athens use propane fuel and other alternative energy to lower its vehicle carbon dioxide emissions, which totaled about 1.5 million pounds in 2009.

Second-year graduate student Kyle Gumto worked with Athens’ Green Fleets Policy for more than a year as part of his masters of science in environmental studies. Through his work, Gumto improved reports on the city’s fleet of vehicles, adding elements like the price of gas per gallon, price averages, odometer readings and mileage in order to help the city gauge its fuel spending and environmental impact.

Through a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calculator, Gumto found it would take 17,081 trees grown from seedling to 10 years old to replace the environmental damage done by Athens’ vehicles in one year.

The highest amount of carbon dioxide emissions in 2009 came from the transportation department, meaning city buses, with the department releasing 446,996.64 pounds of the gas into the air, according to Gumto’s research. The streets department produced the second highest emissions weighing in at 317,548.51 pounds of carbon dioxide.

The high emission count for the streets department is because the Department of Engineering and Public Works uses pick-up trucks, dump trucks and a street sweeper.

City officials said the new calculations will help lower costs and pollution for the city’s vehicles.

“It’s really going to allow the city to easily track our progress towards improving the fuel efficiency of our fleet,” said Councilman Elahu Gosney, who drafted the city’s Green Fleets Policy ordinance.

The Green Fleets Policy ordinance, which was passed by city council in April 2009, mandates the city lower carbon dioxide emissions and save money by decreasing the number of vehicles, developing an anti-idling policy, encouraging vehicle sharing, reducing the use of diesel and buying more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Gumto also compared a hybrid 2008 Toyota Prius and a regular 1991 Chevy Corsica and found the Toyota cost the city twice as much money in fuel for the 2009 year.

Gosney said the city already has two hybrids, but a more realistic option might be buying smaller vehicles.

Along with suggesting hybrids for the city, Gumto advocated the city use alternative fuel such as propane because hybrid vehicles can be costly to buy.

“I think his recommendations, we’ll use those to help our decision-making process,” said city planner Paul Logue, who worked with Gumto on the project.