President's Award for Energy Efficiency Announcement of 25 Award Recipients in the Field of Transportation.

The President today presented the first 25 of the President's Awards for Energy Efficiency. Those receiving awards at a White House ceremony were honored for outstanding energy conservation efforts in the field of transportation. Among the award winners were small business firms, large corporations, professional and trade associations, State police and transportation departments, one city, one Federal agency, and an Air Force base.

Additional transportation awards will be presented later this year, as well as Presidential awards for energy conservation achievements in agriculture and in the residential sector.

The President's Energy Efficiency Awards Program was announced on April 29, 1980. The awards program is part of a long-term Federal initiative to encourage citizen participation in the national drive toward greater energy efficiency.

Prominently featured on the President's award certificate is a "double-E" energy efficiency emblem. This emblem will appear on all Federal publications and advertisements promoting energy conservation. Award winners have earned the right to reproduce the emblem as demonstration of their exceptional contributions to the national conservation effort.

Many of today's award winners have developed ridesharing and driver efficiency training programs for their employees. The first phase of the President's long-term conservation initiative stressed the promotion of such programs by businesses and trade associations.

The award winners announced today are:

Atlantic Richfield Go., Los Angeles, Calif. Sixty-seven percent of the company's 3,050 Los Angeles-based employees commute to work by sharing rides or using public transportation. The company began. subsidizing bus fares for employees in 1973, and in 1976 Atlantic Richfield collaborated with other private and public organizations to create a Los Angeles-area vanpool program, which has become a model program for other companies across the Nation.

Central Freight Lines, Waco, Tex. Central Freight Lines pursues an aggressive fuel conservation program involving training of drivers in fuel efficiency techniques and the use of innovative fuelsaving devices in fleet vehicles.

Champion Spark Plug Co., Toledo, Ohio. Champion technicians have tested more than 30,000 vehicles as part of the company's Mobile Proving Ground test program, which began in 1975. Vehicles have been tested to determine the impact of engine conditions on fuel consumption and environmental emissions. Tests have been conducted in 30 locations in the United States, Western Europe, and Mexico.

The City of Portland, Oreg. Portland serves as a model to other urban areas on how comprehensive transportation planning can contribute to energy efficiency goals. Transportation improvements made in the last 10 years include a downtown "transit mall," a citywide ridesharing program, and the incorporation of transportation planning into a broader urban development policy. A light-rail transit system for Portland is in the planning stages.

Coats and Clark, Inc., Atlanta, Ga. Coats and Clark stresses the importance of fuel efficiency in its company-owned trucks by hiring drivers on a conditional basis until they attain certain fuel economy goals. Monthly reports are compiled indicating each driver's average mileage per gallon and cost per mile.

Coleman/Goff, Inc., St. Paul, Minn. This advertising and public relations firm called attention to fuel economy techniques for truck operators by conducting a 3-day demonstration of specially equipped test trucks. The Minnesota legislature adjourned its session to view the demonstration, which attracted much attention by the media and the general public. The firm is involved in other energy conservation promotional campaigns in St. Paul and in San Francisco.

Connecticut Department of Transportation, Wethersfield, Conn. Since 1973, the department has provided, free of charge, carpool matching and consultation services to 102 private employers representing nearly 170,000 employees. This program has resulted in a 20-percent increase in ridesharing by employees of participating companies. The State of Connecticut has taken a number of other steps to encourage greater ridesharing by residents.

Energy Conservation Study Group, Maintenance Council of the American Trucking Associations, Greenwich, Conn. The study group holds three meetings annually, at which maintenance and operational executives of hundreds of major trucking firms share information about the means toward low-cost, efficient operation of trucking fleets.

Evergone, Inc., Federal Way, Wash. This small firm, a United States Postal Service contractor, has installed sophisticated fuel-economy devices on its fleet of three trucks, significantly boosting fuel economy.

Golden Gate Bridge Highway and Transportation District, San Francisco, Calif. An extensive ridesharing promotional campaign, begun in 1970, has increased by 10,000 daily the number of commuters who cross the Golden Gate Bridge, with virtually no increase in the number of vehicles crossing. Currently, 65 percent of the nearly 41,000 bridge commuters are in public transit vehicles, carpools, vanpools, or club buses.

Hallmark Cards, Inc., Kansas City, Mo. Hallmark has promoted ridesharing and the use of public transit by offering a computerized matching system for potential ridesharers, by allowing employees to purchase public transit passes through payroll deductions, and by supporting the operation of 50 vanpools for Hallmark workers. By the end of 1980, one-third of Hallmark's employees will be sharing rides or using buses.

Institute of Industrial Launderers, Washington, D.C. At least 150 member laundry companies have sent representatives to a route alignment training course offered by the institute. This course emphasizes the fuel-efficiency advantages of careful route planning for laundry, delivery trucks.

Maryland State Police Department, Pikesville, Md. The Maryland State Police Department was the first State police department in the country to send staff members to the Department of Energy's Driver Energy Conservation Awareness Training (DECAT) program. As a result of the department's DECAT participation, it has trained 1,400 fleet drivers and sponsored training sessions for fleet operators of other organizations.

McDonnell Douglas Aircraft, St. Louis, Mo. McDonnell Douglas St. Louis-area employees are sharing rides and taking public transit because of company-encouraged ridesharing efforts. About one third of the company's employees are .commuting to work on buses, in vans, and in carpools.

Michigan Department of Transportation, Lansing, Mich. The department operates the largest State employee vanpool program in the county, serving 1,300 State workers with 118 vans and saving about 900,000 gallons of gasoline each year. In addition, the department recently allocated over $500,000 to fund 20 statewide ridesharing planning offices, which will provide advice to private and public employers.

Montana Department of Highways, Helena, Mont. The Montana Department of Highways has successfully established a driver efficiency training program for State employees.

National Bureau of Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce, Gaithersburg, Md. This Federal agency reduced by nearly 40 percent its consumption of gasoline between April 1, 1979, and March 31, 1980, over the previous 1-year period. The reduction was accomplished without curtailing any of the Bureau's official responsibilities.

The Prudential Insurance Co. of America, Newark, N.J. Prudential operates one of the largest vanpool programs in the United States, and its employees in the Newark area are using it to great advantage. The company estimates that only 10 percent of its Newark work force are single drivers, about 50 percent of the employees ride in carpools or vanpools, and the remaining 40 percent use public transit.

Reynolds Electric and Engineering Co., Las Vegas, Nev. The Reynolds Electric and Engineering Co. funds a driver efficiency training program, which so far has reached 3,000 drivers in Nevada and nearly 100 driving instructors there.

Seattle First National Bank, Seattle, Wash. The bank will spend up to $600,000 in 1980 to support its popular "Bus With Us" program, which subsidizes public transit passes for over 40 percent of its 7,500 employees statewide. Seattle First National estimates that during its first year the program will eliminate 12 million miles which would have been driven by employees and could save as much as 750,000 gallons of gasoline. "Bus With Us" began in November of 1979.

Shemya Air Force Base, United States Air Force, Shemya AFB, Alaska. Shemya Air Force Base is located on Shemya Island, a 4.5 mile by 2.5 mile island near the tip of the Aleutian Chain. Base personnel reduced gasoline consumption by nearly 25 percent between April 1, 1979, and March 31, 1980, over the previous year. They are walking more, consolidating trips when they must drive, and becoming accustomed to the fact that energy efficiency is not a temporary goal but a way of life on tiny Shemya Island.

Southern New England Telephone Co., Hartlord, Conn. Southern New England Telephone Co. has been promoting alternate means of commuting since 1971, and the effort has paid off: Thirty-seven percent of its employees now use public transit, carpools, and vanpools.

Texas Medical Center, Houston, Tex. More than 40,000 people work at the Texas Medical Center, a complex which houses a number of different medical facilities. A multiemployer transportation program was begun there in June of 1978, promoting vanpooling, providing a carpool matching program by computer, supplying discounts for public transit passes, and taking other steps to assure easy access to the formerly congested, crowded parking facilities and roadways serving the center.

3M Company, St. Paul, Minn. Largely through the efforts of 3M senior transportation engineer Robert D. Owens, the company's model vanpooling program has grown from 6 vans in 1973 to 135 vans currently in operation. Owens is regarded as the "father of vanpooling," and his work in conjunction with 3M has revolutionized commuter transportation worldwide.

Truck and Bus Fuel Economy Advisory Committee, Society of Automotive Engineers, Euclid, Ohio. Made up of 40 individuals from the truck and bus manufacturing industry, the committee develops fuel-economy test procedures for new devices and concepts.