the buzz log

Starting in the new year, you'll be able to breathe easy with your e-orders. That's because when you ship with UPS, you'll be getting more than a special delivery. You'll be getting cleaner air: Brown is going green.

In a first for the delivery industry, and with a nod to the scary-high oil prices earlier this year, UPS teamed with the EPA to trick out UPS trucks into eco-friendly hybrids. This electric hybrid runs so quiet, some drivers actually thought the engine had stalled at stop signs during road tests.

These silent, clean-burning vehicles will still look like the familiar brown trucks, but will reduce fuel use by 40 to 50 percent while also cutting carbon emissions by 30 percent. The trucks cost more, but with the economies on fuel-savings, the company estimated it can make up the expense within three years. And the technology could turn all kinds of gas-guzzlers like off-road vehicles, buses, and extra-large SUVs into fuel sippers.

The first of the clean-driving UPS trucks will hit the road in Minneapolis in 2009.

Drive, baby, drive.