To go green, the city of Nashua and United Parcel Service may enter into a partnership to attract a compressed natural gas (CNG) refueling station to the city, Mayor Donnalee Lozeau said.

   The idea came from a fleet assessment the city just completed, Lozeau said. That assessment included a schedule for replacing city trucks and other vehicles. “We’ve got a significant number of trash trucks that need to be replaced,” she said. “We have an opportunity instead of buying diesel fuel to buy trucks that run on compressed natural gas.”

   There are advantages to trucks that run on CNG instead of diesel, she said. “The engines last 25 percent longer, they run cleaner, their maintenance records are significantly different,” Lozeau said.

   “The challenge for us is getting a gas station.” City officials had been negotiating with a company that said if the city buys 10 vehicles, it could get a portable station for USD 15.000 a year.

   Lozeau talked about the idea at a business roundtable sponsored by the Nashua Green Team. She thought if some local companies also bought trucks, that might make it financially attractive for a permanent CNG station to locate here without the city paying for it.

   At the Green Team roundtable, a couple businesses said they might be interested. Then, at a Rivier College president’s roundtable on enery, UPS presented information about its use of energy-efficient vehicles. However, the UPS fleet in Nashua had no CNG vehicles because there was no local fueling station.