PASADENA, Calif. ---- CALSTART, a leading transportation technology consortium, announced that FedEx Express and Environmental Defense have won the organization’s Blue Sky Award in recognition of their commercial use of hybrid trucks. Each year, CALSTART’s Blue Sky Awards honor companies for their contributions to clean air, energy efficiency and the advancement of the transportation industry. The Blue Sky Award selection committee concluded that "other fleet operators were influenced by one of the nation’s most respected and sophisticated truck operators showing strong interest in hybrids," which in turn motivated those fleets to embrace the technologies themselves. The FedEx and Environmental Defense joint effort led the commercial truck market’s interest and efforts into the hybrid market, CALSTART said. CALSTART presented the awards this month at a luncheon at the Los Angeles Convention Center, as part of “2020: California’s Transportation Energy Future” conference. EJ Harrison & Sons received the Blue Sky Merit Award for its adoption of various alternative fuel technologies. The company’s fleet uses such technologies as liquefied natural gas, dual-fuel, clean diesel and engine retrofits. Based in Ventura, Calif., EJ Harrison & Sons provides waste disposal services. Hyperion Solutions received a Merit Award for its program that helped employees purchase fuel-efficient cars for their personal use. The company launched a program, called “Drive Clean to Drive Change,” which reimburses its employees $5,000 for purchasing vehicles that achieve at least 45 mpg. "The awards this year reflect the expanding growth and momentum in an industry whose solutions are timelier than ever," said CALSTART President and CEO John Boesel. "There is increasing urgency for greater transportation energy efficiency and alternatives to our dependence on petroleum. Our Blue Sky winners' actions stand out as signals of the meaningful solutions we can enact to address our challenges." The New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority won a Blue Sky Merit Award for its early use of hybrid technology. Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels won the Innovation Award for his commitment to the goals of the Kyoto protocols.