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We may exist in a digital age, but the fact remains that we still need physically tangible goods to live, work and play. The food we eat, the equipment we use in our offices and the very computers and other devices we use to free us from physical labor, all have to get to us somehow.

That "somehow" is through vehicle fleets. Shipping companies, retailers and other businesses maintain massive fleets of trucks and sometimes cars to keep the goods flowing and economies moving. As you might guess, fleets are a big potential source of pollution, not to mention an area of high operating costs for the organizations that maintain them.

On the flip side, they represent a great opportunity for companies to reduce their negative impact on the environment, to actually save money and to provide goods and services less expensively to customers. Naturally, the fuels that organizations use to power their fleets are one of the critical components in this equation.

This article takes a look at five solutions to some of the challenges fleet operators face when it comes to fuel -- what kind, how to use it most cleanly, and how to optimize for maximum cost effectiveness and minimum environmental impact.

Move on to the next page for the first fuel fix in our countdown. Here's a hint: It's good for more than just cooking.

Most people are familiar with at least the idea of natural gas for its uses around the house -- stovetop cooking, home heating and keeping water hot for washing dishes, clothes and people. But in the United States at least, it may come as a surprise to ordinary car owners to know that it also makes an excellentalternative fuel for vehicles, especially fleets and used cars.

In the United States, compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) are commonly used as a much cleaner fuel for city buses. Since natural gas has the lowest carbon concentration of any fossil fuel, emissions from burning it are far lower than those for gasoline or diesel. Refueling can be done by tapping into natural gas lines, since they are pressurized enough to force gas into a vehicle's empty compressed-natural-gas fuel tank.