VALHALLA, NY - Platte River Power Authority, based in Fort Collins, Colo., has converted about half of its fleet of hybrid and non-hybrid service vehicles to an oil filter designed to cut down on operating costs.

The microGreen Extended Performance Oil Filter has been proven through extensive laboratory and on-road testing to reduce oil maintenance costs by 65 percent, decrease the use of motor oil by 70 percent, and reduce the number of filter changes by 50 percent, according to SOMS Technologies.

"Converting to the microGreen filter fits with our mission to be both sensitive to environmental concerns and improve operational efficiency to benefit our customers," said Brian Moeck, Platte River Power Authority's general manager.

Whereas traditional oil filters using paper filtration typically filter down to 25 or 30 microns, the double filtration of the microGreen filter keeps the oil cleaner and maintains the additive package, allowing vehicles to extend the use of motor oil up to 30,000 miles, according to SOMS.