U Pittsburgh Deploys Electric Box Trucks
The university added four new zero-emission electric box trucks to its fleet. Designed to travel 60 to 80 miles on a single charge, the light-duty trucks are used for campus moving and delivery services.
Virginia Tech Pilots E-Scooters
Starting in September, 1,300 electric scooters will be available at university ride-share stations for check out. The Virginia Tech Transportation Institute has partnered with the Ford-owned Spin company to conduct an 18-month pilot research initiative focused on micro-mobility. The research is intended to lead to recommendations for more effectively governing dockless programs on colleges and in cities.
U Virginia Earns Sustainable Fleet Accreditation
The university's Facilities Management Fleet recently garnered tier 2 of the Sustainable Fleet Accreditation, recognizing its efforts to build a fleet of cleaner and more sustainable vehicles. In the last year, facilities replaced 10 of its older, less efficient vehicles with electric and hybrid vehicles, and reduced the number of older diesel vehicles. The accreditation is a joint program between the National Association of Fleet Administrators (NAFA) and Calstart, both transportation-related nonprofits.
U Georgia to Purchase 20 Electric Buses
In an effort to reduce carbon emissions and increase alternative transportation options, the university recently established a contract to purchase up to 20 electric buses. Energy costs for operating the electric buses amount to less than $10 per day per bus, compared to energy costs for a diesel bus that total $90 per day per bus. The new buses also will have twice the horsepower and five times the efficiency of a diesel bus. The purchase is made possible by a $10 million grant from the GO! Transit Capital Program administered by Georgia’s State Road and Tollway Authority.
Union College Installs EV Charging Stations
In an effort to encourage more electric vehicle users, the college has added nine new dual-port charging stations around campus, bringing the number of spots available for electric vehicle users to 22 from four. The stations were paid for in part through grants from National Grid and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority.
Tufts U Bolsters Carpooling With App
In an effort to reduce carbon emissions, the university entered a partnership with the carpooling app miles2share in early March, which allows students, faculty and staff within the Tufts community to connect with riders and drivers with overlapping routes.
Mills College Offers Car Sharing
At the end of January, the college placed two Zipcar vehicles on campus that can be used by any student or staff member at a discounted rate.
West Chester U Implements Bike Sharing
The Office of Sustainability at the university implemented a bike-share program across campus through a company called Zagster. The program allows students to rent bicycles with a one-time, annual fee for up to three hours at a time.
U Victoria Launches Campus Cycling Plan
The university's inaugural Campus Cycling Plan provides a comprehensive and coordinated approach to support cycling as a safe, enjoyable and convenient mode of transportation on campus for students, faculty, staff and visitors. It includes bicycle parking, cycling paths and end-of-trip facilities, as well as policy direction on strategies to improve levels of comfort and safety on shared paths and roads.
Parul U Bans Gas & Diesel Vehicles on Campus
In an effort to reduce pollution on campus and protect the health of teachers and students, the university recently banned the use of gasoline and diesel vehicles inside campus boundaries. To facilitate transportation across campus, one hundred bicycles have been placed across the campus, which the campus community can rent at a minimal cost.
Rider U Wins Electric Vehicle Challenge
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection named the university a winner of the New Jersey Charging Challenge: Electrify Your Workplace recognition program in December 2018. Rider received a certificate of recognition for its installation of five single-port, level-two EV charging stations and the use of smartphone applications that provide information on proper charging etiquette.
U Kentucky Offers Support for Bicycle Commuters
Earlier in January, the university opened an indoor bike room that has indoor parking available for 60 bicycles, four showers, lockers, a fix-it station and water fountains with bottle fillers.
U Arkansas Opens Bike Lane
Green and white paint now mark a formal bike route on campus that was previously used by cyclists as a common route to avoid pedestrians.
U New Hampshire Pilots Employee Bike Program
A total of 30 facilities department staff members have been trained to participate in the new bike program. They are replacing trips to meetings that previously would have included the use of a car with bike travel. To support the program, UNH purchased six bikes, lights, racks, lock, and helmets. The facilities team plans to share information with new groups across campus that want to adopt the program.
Duke U Adds Electric Buses to Fleet
The two new battery-electric buses will replace two diesel vehicles, saving Duke about $924,000 in maintenance, fuel and vehicle costs over the lifespan of the two buses. Each bus can carry up to 40 seated passengers and operate for about 200 miles on a single charge. Besides zero greenhouse gas emissions, the buses require no oil changes and use no liquid fuels.
U Washington Uses E-Bikes to Deliver Campus Mail
The university's Mailing Services now uses a fleet of electric-assist cargo bicycles to deliver nearly all mail to 455 departments on the Seattle campus. Mailing Services used a grant from the Campus Sustainability Fund to purchase five of the bikes. Since phasing out trucks, deliveries now take 10 percent less time and 30 percent fewer miles traveled.
Yale Divinity School Announces Air Travel Offset Program
The Yale Divinity School has launched a new program to offset the environmental impacts of academic and administrative travel. Inspired by other universities with offset programs, domestic flights will incur a $50 charge and international flights will incur a $100 charge. The revenue from the charge/tax will be used to support sustainability efforts at Yale Divinity School.
Purdue U Studies Best Practices for E-Scooters on Campus
In the coming weeks, 40 scooters will be distributed across Purdue's campus to begin the initial four-week research project to study how e-scooters can best be incorporated into an urban environment. While the research results are intended to be used by civil engineering and city planners worldwide, Purdue will be using the information for future decisions about whether to allow scooters on campus and how they should be used.
San Francisco State U Receives Funding to Offer Bike-Share Memberships for Free
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority board approved a $56,000 grant to provide free bike share memberships for university students for two years. Lyft will contribute funding to continue the program beyond the two-year pilot phase. Each year, the grant will provide free bike sharing to 400 Pell Grant-eligible students, and for 150 non-Pell Grant-eligible students. About 300 single month passes will also be provided to other students.
Marshall U Offers Bike Share Program
Called Rolling Thunder, a fleet of 30 new white bikes will allow Marshall students and staff to access bikes for free for the first two hours and $5-per-hour after the first two hours.
U Montana Secures $1.5M Grant to Purchase Three Electric Buses
The university can now order three new zero-emission battery electric buses thanks to a $1.5 million grant from the Federal Transit Administration (FTA). The Associated Students of UM’s UDASH transit system was awarded the competitive grant through the FTA’s Low and No Emission Bus Program. ASUM expects to order buses this fall and receive them sometime in 2020. The new electric buses will allow Associated Students of UM to replace several diesel buses.
U Wisconsin Green Bay Offers Bike-Sharing
In partnership with Lime, the campus community now has access to shareable bikes. Riders pay $1 for 30 minutes of riding, with discounts available for students. When the ride is finished, the rider can park the bike anywhere public, as long as it is not in way of traffic or pedestrians, and lock it to end the ride.
Flinders U Installs 1.8 MW Photovoltaic Carport
(Australia) The solar electric system will go online in October and is projected to provide 20 percent of needed electricity for the university’s Bedford Park campus. It will include a charging dock for recharging planned autonomous shuttles and plug-in electric vehicles. Costing 4.895 million Australian dollars ($3.6 million) it is expected to pay for itself within seven years. Flinders' draft sustainability plan indicates its commitment to achieve zero net emissions from electricity by 2020.
U Central Florida Introduces Bike Sharing
The bicycle-sharing company, Lime, will be providing the university with 500 bikes to start the school year. Lime will also provide maintenance without charge to the school. Bikes will be available for students, employees and visitors for 50 cents per half-hour.
U Western Australia Tests Driverless Electric Bus
(Australia) The autonomous driving bus travels at 5 kilometers per hour (3.1 miles per hour) and can carry up to 14 passengers. Students and faculty will evaluate the accuracy and reliability of autonomous driving and the effects the vehicle has on other traffic, such as cyclists and pedestrians.
Virginia Tech U Rolls Out Community Bike-Share Program
A regional partnership among Virginia Tech, Blacksburg and Christiansburg, and Montgomery County now gives the community access to 12 bike stations with eight being housed on the Virginia Tech campus. Seventy-five bikes are in circulation with plans to expand in the future. Riders gain access to the bikes through a smart phone app. The program offers flexible pricing and timing options, along with unlimited daily, monthly and yearly memberships.
Virginia Commonwealth U Partners to Offer Public Transit
The university has signed a one-year agreement with a transit company to provide unlimited transportation access on certain routes for all VCU students and employees. The $1.2 million initiative will become effective on Aug. 1.
Princeton U Introduces Car Sharing
The university's Transportation & Parking Services recently partnered with Enterprise CarShare in an effort to reduce campus traffic congestion while also meeting student needs for on-demand transportation. The new service offers an automated way for the campus community to rent a vehicle by the hour, the day or overnight.
Columbia U Introduces Six Electric Buses to Fleet
The university is replacing the existing diesel-powered buses with six new electric buses to its campus shuttle network. In addition to improving air quality, the university also aims to reduce noise pollution. Transitioning to electric buses is expected to reduce shuttle greenhouse gas emissions by 70 percent from the diesel-powered shuttle buses.
Marshall U Rolls Out Bike Loan Program
Starting fall 2018, students will be able to check out bicycles to ride around campus for free through a new Eco Bike Loan Program, which will have 30 bikes available for use by students, faculty and staff.
U Idaho Launches Bike-Share Program
Starting in August, the university will launch a dockless bike-share program for the fall semester using Spin bicycles. Students and staff can rent the bicycles using a smartphone app. The bikes' baskets contain a solar panel that powers the bike lock battery and GPS.
U Alabama Birmingham Installs 16 EV Charging Stations
Employees at the university now have access to 16 new electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at four campus locations. Employees can refuel their electric vehicles at the stations free of charge. Later this summer, there will be two additional chargers available to employees, bringing the total to 18.
U Denver Pilots New Shuttle
Building on the momentum of providing sustainable transportation options to students and staff, the university is piloting a new, subsidized shuttle service. The new service will provide rides along two designated routes around the perimeter of campus, with stops that include the university's light rail station, the new administrative building and four other locations around campus.
Georgia College Students to Upgrade Electric Golf Cart Fleet
This summer, three Georgia College students, along with two high school students, will use a $7,700 grant from the Office of Sustainability to increase the efficiency of solar electric powered golf carts on campus. They will also locate spots on campus where the carts can be parked to get the most solar energy.
Indiana U Partners With City on Bike-Share Program
The city of Bloomington and the university have partnered to launch a dockless bike sharing service, operated by company Zagster, which aims to give residents, students and visitors an affordable and sustainable on-demand transportation option. With an initial base of 150 bicycles, the program will offer rides at $1 per half-hour, with monthly subscriptions available for unlimited 60-minute trips.
Thompson Rivers U Launches E-Bike Program
The university is rolling out an electronic bike option as an alternative to cycling on its hilly terrain. Employees who choose to purchase an e-bike through the university will receive a discounted rate with the option to pay it back through a payroll deduction.
Indiana State U Rolls Out Bike-Share Option
For Earth Day, the Office of Sustainability launched a new bike-share pilot program with Spin by placing 100 bikes across campus. Bikes can be used for $0.50 every half-hour or unlimited 30-minute rides for $14 per month.
Arizona State U Partners With Lyft
Under a new agreement between the university and Lyft, ASU will replace a shuttle line with free Lyft rides to relevant individuals and will install marked ride-share pick-up and drop-off points on every campus. All ASU students, faculty and staff all will receive a one-time $15 credit on Lyft rides.
Emory U Opens Biking & Pedestrian Trail
Developed through a partnership with Emory and the Path Foundation and opened on Earth Day, a new, 12-foot wide, paved bicycle and pedestrian trail opened that will eventually link Emory’s Clairmont Campus to a scenic, off-road trail system. The new trail replaces a previous section of narrow sidewalk.
U California San Diego Receives 2018 Grid Edge Innovation Award
The university was recognized for providing a platform for companies to test new electric vehicle charging technologies with real customers. The university partners with 18 commercial EV charging companies to test a variety of technical configurations and models with the university's population of more than 400 EV commuters.
Northwestern U & U Tennessee to Receive $3M for Bio-Energy Research
The U.S. Department of Energy has selected projects from the University of Tennessee and Northwestern University that will receive between $1 million to 2 million each. The research aims to develop economically and environmentally sustainable sources of biomass and increase the availability of competitively-priced renewable fuels and bio-based products, while increasing and diversifying the U.S.'s domestic energy sources. The funding is provided through the Biomass Research and Development Initiative, a joint program from the Energy Department and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Penn State Behrend Partners for Biofuel Research Opportunities
A $1 million investment by Hero Bx, an Erie-based biodiesel company, will create research opportunities for students and faculty members in the School of Science. Students will work in a new, 1,500-square-foot chemistry lab with Hero Bx chemists and other researchers to reduce the sulfur in biodiesel feedstocks, which are processed for reuse as transportation fuels and heating oil. Subsequent studies will focus on increasing the efficiency of biodiesel in cold-temperature applications, including commercial aviation.
Northern Arizona U Collaborates With Flagstaff on Bike-Share Program
In conjunction with the City of Flagstaff, the university launched a new bicycle share program through Spin as part of an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The city is testing the bike-share program fee-free for six months, which allows people to use one of 300 dockless bikes for 50 cents per hour.
St. John's U Students Introduce Bike-Share Program
Two students introduced Johnnie Bennie Bikes to campus, which provides 12 bikes available for use between St. John's University and the College of St. Benedict. The bikes are available for six-hour stretches, 24/7. The university's Outdoor Leadership Center is in charge of the bikes.
