University of Pennsylvania
OP-15: Campus Fleet

Penn Transportation operates a propane fueling station at the South Bank campus. The facility, which is the only private propane fueling station in Philadelphia, holds 1,000 gallons of fuel - enough to fuel the entire Penn Transit fleet for a week.

Penn's Facilities and Real Estate Services division has been transitioning to electric utility vehicles and will continue to do so into the future.

Propane-powered vehicles produce 30-90% less carbon monoxide and about 50% less toxins and smog producing substances than normal gasoline-powered vehicles. Since propane is over 90% domestically produced, it is more readily available than most other alternative fuels and costs about $1 less per gallon than gasoline.

As part of the University's Climate and Sustainability Action Plan, Penn Transit has retro-fitted the existing shuttle van fleet to utilize propane fuel over. Penn Transit has the ability through its maintenance program to convert gas-powered University vehicles to propane.

Penn Sustainability is in the process of developing a guidance document to assist vehicle purchasers with buying low- and zero-emission vehicles.

In accordance with Pennsylvania's Biodiesel laws, all diesel in Pennsylvania must be at least 2% biodiesel (B2). Penn purchases the majority of its diesel from Sunoco through the University's WEX/Sunoco card program. Sunoco is currently maintaining up to a 5% bio component in their diesel fuel.

The University of Pennsylvania is a major research institution, with over 3,000 degrees granted annually from twelve professional and academic schools at the Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctorate levels. Penn is committed to reducing emissions and energy use, as stated in the 2019 "Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0". This submission documents Penn's efforts during the FY20 year and compares them to the FY09 baseline year which corresponds with the University's "Climate and Sustainability Action Plan 3.0". The submission relies on information related to the main, academic, West Philadelphia campus, but to more fully document efforts across the Penn system, information related to the Morris Arboretum and New Bolton has also been referenced and noted as outside the boundary in descriptions. The information is used to enrich examples of University efforts and is not intended to be the primary justification for credits. The responses for each of the questions and sub-questions are drawn from University materials, both internal and public documents. Each section notes the website where the information can be found.