Frito-Lay earned a California clean transportation award for increasing the number of compressed natural gas vehicles at an awards ceremony that also honored General Motors and Caterpillar, Inc. for emissions-reduction efforts.

CALSTART, a clean transportation consortium, presented its 2014 Blue Sky Award recognizing outstanding marketplace contributions to clean air, energy efficiency, and the clean transportation technologies industry overall by companies, organizations, and individuals.

The companies winning the Blue Sky Award for 2014 were:

• General Motors, for offering a number of clean-fuel vehicles to the market, including the Chevrolet Volt and Spark EV.

• Frito-Lay, for increasing the number of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles in its fleet to 333 by the end of 2014, along with having the largest commercial fleet of all-electric trucks in the U.S.

• Caterpillar Inc., for developing its Off-Road Large Size Hydraulic Hybrid Excavator, which has the potential to reduce up to 25 percent of greenhouse gas emissions compared to conventional diesel fuel models.

Sen. Fran Pavley, Sen. Ricardo Lara, and Assemblyman Henry T. Perea were also given the Blue Sky Award for their legislative efforts in the areas of California climate, clean air, and clean transportation policy.

Sen. Pavley and Assemblyman Perea co-authored Assembly Bill 8 in 2013, extending California’s clean transportation incentive programs through 2023. In addition, Sens. Lara and Pavley co-authored Senate Bill 1204 in 2014, creating a program that would leverage cap-and-trade revenues to clean up heavy duty vehicles in California.

The Blue Sky Awards were presented at CALSTART’s annual meeting, which also featured a number of industry experts and officials who spoke about a variety of topics, including up-and-coming clean fuels and clean transportation technologies.