Just how green is your beer? It could very well be a little greener than it was last year…along with your milk and your phone service.

Anheuser Busch, the maker of iconic American beer brands like Budweiser, Verizon, Bartlett Dairy and Derle Farms are among the growing number of companies that are greening their delivery fleets by use of natural gas delivery trucks. Bartlett and Derle are among the first in the dairy industry to adopt CNG technology.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the New York City Department of Transportation (NYC DOT) have awarded 14 companies over $6.6 million to introduce these compressed natural gas (CNG) trucks as well as electric, and hybrid-electric vehicles to City fleets.

The funding is being awarded through the New York City Private Fleet Alternative Fuel/Electric Vehicle Program, which is designed to assist private and not-for-profit fleets operating in New York City to purchase new vehicles or to repower vehicles with alternative fuels or advanced technologies that improve efficiency and reduce emissions. The new clean fuel vehicles (137 in all) will displace over 5.8 million gallons of petroleum over their lifetimes as compared to conventional vehicles. They will cut harmful pollutants by 790 tons of Oxides of Nitrogen, 2,791 tons of Carbon Dioxide, 5 tons of Hydrocarbons, and 18 tons of Particulate Matter over the lifetime of the vehicles. The greatest gains will come from the 72 shifting to CNG.

“This is exactly the kind of public/private cooperation that is quickly producing the kind of change in transportation fuel that Energy Vision advocates,” said Joanna Underwood, Energy Vision’s President. “Natural gas, the one 100% petroleum-free fuel option, is here right now, and its use means one big step on the path to real, sustainable fuel and energy independence.”