M7’s Environmental Initiatives
We Mean Green
For more than two decades, M7 has been recycling its own used motor oil – approximately 3000 gallons a year – to heat its 6000-square-foot vehicle service department. We also recycle the company’s used oil filters and antifreeze. In addition, all aged batteries from M7 vehicles are returned to the local auto parts stores. The company’s scrap metal is also recycled. Our ongoing recycling efforts help to ensure that hazardous materials are properly disposed or safely reused.
We constructed our very own fast-fuel facility that is supplying CNG fuel at a rate of 5 to 7 GGE’s (Gasoline Gallon Equivalent) per minute! That’s as fast or faster than a gasoline pump!
Join the Green Team by fueling your fleet of utility trucks, police cars, municipal vehicles, refuse haulers, school busses, or any public fleet vehicle within the area.
“If you had said, when clean fuel started, that there would be a group of 110 taxis in West Haven powered by natural gas serving the wheelchair facilities, people would have said, ‘You know, that’s about as likely as a magic carpet.’ Today we have that magic carpet and it’s called Metro Taxi [M7].” – US Senator Richard Blumenthal
In September 2011 the M7 Team, along with Clean Energy’s President and CEO, local and state officials, and energy and disability advocates cut the ribbon on M7’s Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Public Access Fueling Station for all type CNG vehicles.
Since then, we have replaced 110 gasoline-powered taxis with new clean-burning ones; all powered by CNG — 70 of those vehicles are wheelchair-accessible too. Working with the U.S. Department of Energy, M7 seized the opportunity to launch this alternative fuel concept program and engage in two innovative ventures:
- Respond to the need of more than 70,000 Connecticut residents known to have mobility disabilities by providing on-demand, wheelchair –accessible, taxi service
- Operate these taxi cabs on Compressed Natural Gas, a U.S. produced alternative fuel with a much lower carbon emission rate, well known for its safety
To celebrate this forward thinking initiative, we’ve launched The New Freedom Fund Taxi Voucher Program through a partnership with the City of New Haven’s Department of Services for Persons with Disabilities and the Greater New Haven Transit District (GNHTD). This voucher program offers qualified passengers with disabilities a 50% discount on all of our taxi services including Metro Access, our universal and equal access wheelchair-accessible taxi transportation.
One year later, we replicated this successful program in the Greater Bridgeport Region. There, we coordinated a partnership with The Kennedy Center and its Regional Mobility Management Project and the Greater Bridgeport Transit.
Saving Money While Saving the Environment
Although the cost for CNG fuel tends to follow the up-and-down gasoline price trends, CNG fuel is typically $1.00 less per GGE (gasoline gallon equivalent) than the prevailing price for 87 octane gasoline. The cost savings for highly utilized fleet vehicles is substantial; making this a solid business plan for all concerned. Also, the cost savings for highly utilized fleet vehicles is substantial, making CNG an ideal substitute to gasoline.
Made in the USA
Natural gas will reduce our imports and our dependence on foreign oil. Imagine that! We’re actually sitting on the worlds’ largest supply of natural gas right here in the United States. Why send our dollars overseas? Why depend on unreliable sources of energy? Imagine the possibilities with cleaner air, energy independence, and increased revenues for our nation.