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Area Development - Site Selection, Facility Planning and Workforce Development

Texas Gov Pushes For More Business Incentives

05/10/2010
Governor Rick Perry says incentives, rather than mandates, are needed and necessary to encourage innovation in business and technology in the Lone Star State.

The state leader made his remarks at the debut of UPS' expanded fleet of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), the first introduced in Texas using grants from the Texas Emissions Reduction Plan Fund for large fleet owners to convert old diesel vehicles to alternative fuel vehicles.

"When we apply incentives instead of crushing mandates, we appeal to the innovators and visionaries and end up with better technology and smarter approaches," Perry said. "UPS is clearly stepping out ahead of the pack with this initiative, and setting an example for their peers in the marketplace that will make the competition even more productive."

Texas has reduced nitrogen oxide emissions by 46 percent and cut ozone levels by 22 percent. Rather than making traditional energy sources more expensive, Texas leaders say they support making alternative energy technologies less expensive, thereby encouraging widespread commercial use and removing barriers to innovation and competition.

UPS plans to deploy 200 next-generation hybrid electric delivery trucks this year, including 25 in Houston and 30 in Austin, to add to its existing fleet of 50 HEVs already operating in Atlanta, Dallas, Houston and Phoenix. These new trucks are part of more than 2,000 alternative-fuel vehicles already in use by UPS that are powered by compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, propane and electricity.

HEV technology can yield a 35 percent increase in fuel economy and a dramatic decrease in vehicle emissions over traditional UPS delivery vehicles. The 200 trucks UPS plans to deploy are expected to save 176,000 gallons of fuel annually and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 1,700 metric tons each year.

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