City of Houston – Melanie Ho – 2020

Goals 

Houston Public Works enlisted Climate Corps Fellow Melanie Ho to research, develop, and analyze strategies on how to transition its fleet to electric vehicles to meet the City’s climate goals. Where electric vehicle options are not yet available, Melanie also explored alternative fuel options.

Solutions

Melanie worked with HPW staff across the five service lines and the administrative offices within HPW to understand the operations and needs for the fleet to determine the viability of electric models and other alternative fuel options available on the market. In evaluating the electric vehicle charging network in Houston, Melanie concluded that the current network is insufficient to support the electrification of HPW’s fleet. From this, she recommended strategies, both near- and long-term, to electrify the fleet, expand charging options, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. After calculating the fleet’s current greenhouse gas emissions, Melanie prioritized vehicles that needed to be replaced in the near-term and identified funding opportunities to help finance their replacement.

Potential Impact

Melanie identified three current funding opportunities that could support the replacement of 60 vehicles in the HPW fleet. If all the proposed opportunities are pursued, the City could save up to over $5 million over the vehicles’ lifetime. This could have a significant impact on air quality, avoiding over 1,500 lbs of nitrogen oxide emissions and 100 lbs of PM2.5 emissions over the lifetime of the vehicles in addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions.