Vietnamese people won the first prize in US environmental management

That is Mr. Dinh Truong Han, 49 years old, technical management engineer for more than 200,000 cars of the US Postal Service.

Each year, the White House organizes a review and award of environmental management for organizations and individuals across the United States that have been able to protect or improve the environment. This year, hundreds of programs submitted. The organizers have selected 1% of these programs to award the best individual organizations.

In early September, 14 organizations and 2 individuals were selected to award the first prize. One of the first two personal prizes belonged to Mr. Dinh Truong Han, a Vietnamese-American, a 200,000-car executive of the US Post Office, based in Washington DC.

Engineer Dinh Truong Han
(Photo: Tien Phong)

In 1974, while studying in the first year of Phu Tho Technical University - Saigon, Dinh Truong Han followed his family to the US to settle down. Here, he continued to pursue engineering.

By 1982, Han graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering in Wisconsin, soon to be recruited by the famous auto parts maker General Motors.

Working for General Motors in Michigan, Dinh Truong Han specializes in automobile engine and gearbox research. After the first six years of service for General Motors, being offered by the US Postal Service, he "danced" the job.

After 18 years of tireless efforts at the US Post Office, now Dinh Truong Han became the director in charge of researching and implementing all technical programs on US Postal Cars.

The US Post Office currently owns more than 200,000 cars, is the largest unit, has the most cars in the world postal industry. Dinh Truong Han's mission is to monitor all technical issues of more than 200,000 above mentioned cars. In addition, he was responsible for the US Postal Service's budget for shopping, repair and maintenance; Annual cost is estimated at more than 150 million USD.

Dinh Truong Han also holds the position of Chairman of the Car Advisory Council for the World Post Office; He is also a member of the White House Advisory Board on Hybrid-electric vehicles development programs. This is a very important program that the US Government is concerned about. These projects are being tested in Boston and California, highly feasible.

Not only doing well the task, Dinh Truong Han also participated in researching the conversion of fuel for cars, from gasoline to gas and vice versa. There were 7,000 US Postal Service cars that successfully used the fuel transducer invented by his team, which brought about great economic benefits and significantly reduced environmental pollution.

He is actively involved and offers many creative ideas in the project to study the effects of vegetable oils when blended into cars' fuel in the ratio of 20% of vegetable oil, 80% of diesel. Recognizing the contribution of Dinh Truong Han, the White House awarded him the first prize in environmental management in 2006.

Dinh Truong Han confided that his greatest dream was to find new fuels to reduce dependence on Middle Eastern oil to avoid meaningless wars that caused suffering for humanity.