July 17, 2006

The Philadelphia Diesel Difference - Working Group Meeting
Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC)
190 North Independence Mall West,
8th Floor,
Philadelphia, PA 19106

IN ATTENDANCE:
Francine Carlini, PADEP
Ed Carreras, Lubrication & Fuels Systems
Eric Cheung, Clean Air Council
Fred Cummings, Philadelphia International Airport
Morris Fine, AMS
Kirt Flowers, Amtrak
Sean Greene, DVRPC
Joe Grinkewicz, Philadelphia School District
John Hadalski, City of Philadelphia
Darlene Heep, City Of Philadelphia, Law Department
Jack LeBeau, EHRF
Lisa MaGee, Philadelphia Regional Port Authority
Susan McDowell, EPA Region III
Pieter Ouwerkerk, PECO
Bill Ross, Sprague
Jack Schweitzer, Amtrak
Alison Tracy, AMS
Barbara Wilson, Krapf Bus Company

MINUTES TAKEN BY:
Alison Tracy

INTRODUCTIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Morris welcomed the group and pointed out that today is an orange-level Ozone Action Day, due to the extreme heat and other meteorological conditions. Hopefully, the work we do here will lead to fewer such days in the future.

The finalized version of the section of the PDD charter pertaining to use of the Diesel Difference Logo was passed out. This language was approved by a majority of the Executive Committee, and now expressly allows the use of the logo for hybrid diesel vehicles, truck stop electrification, APUs and closed crankcase ventilation systems. Morris thanked the Executive Committee for taking the time to review and approve the new text.

The Mid Atlantic Diesel Collaborative is holding a Workshop on August 21-22 that will discuss how to calculate diesel emissions reductions. For information on how to register, visit MARAMA's website at MARAMA.org. After the workshop, there will be a Steering Committee meeting for the Collaborative. Morris announced that Susan Wierman has asked him to Chair the Collaborative's Steering Committee. He will be helping to develop the group and its operational rules. The Committee itself is comprised of Air Directors from member states.

AMS will be attending a meeting tomorrow with other City departments to discuss implementation of the $1.2 million awarded to the City for diesel retrofits through the Sunoco settlement. Since the next Diesel Difference Working Group meeting is not until September, he will update the group via email once funding allocations have been decided.

Finally, Morris welcomed Pieter Ouwerkerk of PECO who will be making a presentation today about PECO's new diesel hybrid prototype utility vehicles. These vehicles bear a decal that includes the PDD logo, as approved by the Executive Committee. They asked the group several months ago about getting permission to use the logo, which prompted discussion of altering the PDD Charter during the last two meetings.

PHILADELPHIA DIESEL DIFFERENCE ACTIVITIES UPDATE:
Eric talked about his presentation to the Regional Transportation Committee of DVRPC last week. The Committee is comprised of county and municipal representatives that can submit proposals for retrofit projects on the TIP. Tomorrow, Eric will be addressing the Regional Citizens Committee, an advisory group to DVRPC. Eric's presentation discusses the benefits of retrofits and EPA's guidance on including such projects in the TIP. The next step in this process will be to begin working with municipalities on specific projects.

A section on the national ULSD rollout has now been included on the PDD website. Brochures and other documents about ULSD are available for download, as is a letter sent by EPA to grantees using ULSD that provides advice on how to prepare fleet vehicles for the transition to ULSD.

Eric and Alison both got a chance to speak at an event last month to publicize a pilot program by UPS and EPA that will test new Hydraulic Hybrid Diesel delivery trucks. Alison will email Eric some photos for the website. The event also included representatives from OTAQ and DEP, and the trucks themselves were showcased. Participants were invited to ride in and even test drive the vehicles to demonstrate performance.

COMMITTEE UPDATES:
There is no news on the recognition front, but the Ports Task Force now has an official commitment from Packer Terminal to retrofit its off-road fleet. Next, Sean Jacobs will work with vendors to review the fleet and see what modifications would be most effective. The Water subgroup is also working on a report on water issues as part of the CARE grant. Similarly, a Brownfields report is in the works. The Water Department is supporting these reports by assisting with stormwater analysis. They hope to use the reports as a platform to reach out to Port operators on best practices. Four sites are now being targeted for Brownfields assessment.

GRANTS UPDATE:
Two DEP grants-Energy Harvest and PEDA-closed last Friday. A grant was submitted by Philadelphia Fry-o-Diesel, a program that processes restaurant waste grease into biodiesel fuel. Their request was for $1 million and the City, Clean Air Council and others sent letters to the State supporting the project. Also, the State's AFIG grant has reopened, as has EPA's Small Environmental Justice Grants program.

MONTHLY PRESENTATION:
Pieter Ouwerkerk of PECO gave a presentation about the prototype hybrid diesel vehicles that PECO/Exelon recently purchased for a pilot program. The trucks are going into service today, and will bear placards that have the Diesel Difference Logo on them. The trucks are part of PECO's larger environmental stewardship program, which also includes the use of biodiesel. PECO hopes in fact to switch its entire diesel fleet to B20 by the end of this year. There are 2 diesel hybrids in the pilot program, one here and one in Chicago, which charge their batteries through running the engine and through regenerative braking. The battery powers the truck's bucket so that the motor does not need to idle while work is being done on utility poles. Unlike a gasoline hybrid, though, the engine cannot run solely off the battery when the truck is in motion. The battery lasts up to 2 hours. The company also owns 40 Ford Escape hybrids and 7 bi-fuel CNG vehicles. The Hybrid purchases were partially offset through a Clean Cities State Energy Program grant. The truck costs $160,000-roughly twice that of a regular vehicles-and reduces fuel consumption from 55 gallons/week to 27 gallons/week. Though initial costs are high now, PECO hopes that they will be lower when the vehicles are mass produced.

Eric asked about PECO's public CNG stations, which Pieter said are still in service, though one will be relocated in Bucks County. Morris brought up a Texas program that promotes plug-in hybrids. These cars are beneficial because they can reduce dramatically or sometimes eliminate the need to use the conventional motor for city driving. They also plug in at night when the electric grid generally has excess capacity, so they would work in favor of electric companies without necessitating major additions to grid infrastructure. Pieter was unaware of what steps PECO has taken on this issue. Alison noted that improvements must be made to car batteries before plug-in hybrids would be economical on a large scale. Current hybrid batteries only discharge in small increments to prevent the battery from wearing out before the drivetrain.

NEXT MEETING AND LOCATION:
The next meeting will be held September 18, 2006 at DVRPC.