It's easy being green

College improves fuel efficiency

September 12, 2006

Vice President Nick Stamos, Associate Vice President Ken Shultes '89, Facilities Supervisor Don Lindemuth and Sustainability Specialist Becki Walker '06 welcome the new fuel-efficient vehicles.

The Green Devil is alive and well at Dickinson and the newest items in the campaign's sustainability arsenal are a Cushman utility vehicle and a Honda Civic Hybrid. The Cushman primarily will be used to pick up recyclables around campus. The other vehicles used for this job get 14 mpg, compared to the 50 mpg the small truck achieves.

Ken Shultes '89, associate vice president of Campus Operations, explains that the superior fuel economy of the Cushman can be attributed, in part, to the engine's efficiency at lower speeds, which is achieved by an automatic engine shutdown when the vehicle is driven faster than 25 mph. The college plans to add more Cushman-type vehicles to the service-vehicle fleet over time.

For those doing college business on the road, a Honda Civic Hybrid has been added to the campus fleet with another cruising onto campus in a few weeks. The new Hondas can get up to 49 mpg, compared to other vehicles available that are in the mid-20-mpg range. To learn more about sustainability efforts on campus, visit www.dickinson.edu/departments/sustainability