Overall Rating Reporter - expired
Overall Score
Liaison Michelle Patterson
Submission Date March 6, 2020
Executive Letter Download

STARS v2.1

Washington University in St. Louis
OP-15: Campus Fleet

Status Score Responsible Party
Complete Reporter Clara Steyer
Sustainability Coordinator
Office of Sustainability
"---" indicates that no data was submitted for this field

Total number of vehicles (e.g. cars, carts, trucks, tractors, buses, electric assist cycles) in the institution’s fleet:
252

Number of vehicles in the institution's fleet that are:
Number of Vehicles
Gasoline-electric, non-plug-in hybrid 3
Diesel-electric, non-plug-in hybrid 0
Plug-in hybrid 0
100 percent electric 23
Fueled with compressed natural gas (CNG) 0
Hydrogen fueled 0
Fueled with B20 or higher biofuel for more than 4 months of the year 0
Fueled with locally produced, low-level (e.g. B5) biofuel for more than 4 months of the year 0

Do the figures reported above include leased vehicles?:
Yes

Optional Fields 

A brief description of the institution’s efforts to support alternative fuel and power technology in its motorized fleet:
> The university aims to decrease emissions from the campus fleet by 22% by 2020, increasing the efficiency and decreasing the number and necessity of fleet vehicles. > Since 2009, WashU has a no-idling policy to help reduce the pollution caused by vehicles running when parked or waiting for passengers. in 2016, signage has been displayed near loading docks and bus stops where diesel vehicles are likely to pause. Additional signage has been placed in key locations across campus to maximize awareness of idling policies. More here: https://sustainability.wustl.edu/reducing-emissions-from-idling-vehicles/ > Biodiesel project: The Office of Sustainability and Dining Services has been in a three-year engagement to develop a partnership with an area high school to develop a closed-loop biodiesel recycling program. The three partners managed to jump through nearly all the hoops and hurdles to establish a program where the high school class would pick up spent cooking oil from the university, clean and convert the oil into B80 fuel, then use the final product in their own bus and maintenance vehicle fleet, and also sell back fuel to the university to power three dining services delivery trucks. The program is designed to maximize learning outcomes for students while coordinating across institutions to manage waste locally and in a more circular way. The program was all set to launch, but has been held up by the IRS – the high school class needs approval from the IRS to sell the fuel to an outside consumer. While we are ready and willing to launch this program, we cannot move forward without this last step. In the interim, cooking oil is being picked up and recycled by a for-profit company. Unfortunately, there is no local vendor of diesel fuel with recycled cooking oil content. More info: https://sustainability.wustl.edu/washu-relaunches-closed-loop-cooking-oil-recycling-program/

The website URL where information about the programs or initiatives is available:
Additional documentation to support the submission:
Data source(s) and notes about the submission:
This data includes vehicles used across campuses (Danforth, Medical School, Tyson Research Center), except for the vehicles leased to operate WUSM shuttles. Most vehicles are used by Facilities departments, Police Departments, Transportation Services, and Residential Life.

The information presented here is self-reported. While AASHE staff review portions of all STARS reports and institutions are welcome to seek additional forms of review, the data in STARS reports are not verified by AASHE. If you believe any of this information is erroneous or inconsistent with credit criteria, please review the process for inquiring about the information reported by an institution or simply email your inquiry to stars@aashe.org.