June 20, 2005

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:

Brett Alkins, Johnson Matthey Inc.
Alvaro Alvarado, U.S. EPA, Region 3
Jim Black, Clean Air Council
Emily Bockian Landsburg
Francine Carlini, PA DEP
Ed Carreras, Synertec Int'l
Ray Chalmers, U.S. EPA, Region 3
Eric Cheung, Clean Air Council/PDD
Fred Cummings, Philadelphia Airport
Morris Fine, AMS/PDD
Emi Faloughi, DVRPC
Kirt Flowers, Amtrak
Ron Gilbaugh, Unionville-Chadds Ford School District
Joe Grinkewicz, School District of Philadelphia
Darlene Heep, City of Philadelphia Law Department
Paula Krall, U.S. EPA, Region 3
Jack LeBeau, E Global Solutions
Robert Neff, PA Turnpike Commission
Michael Panich, Shurepower
Hallie Weiss, AMS
Barbara Wilson, Krapf Bus Co.
Gail Wolfel, Unionville-Chadds Ford School District

MINUTES TAKEN BY:

Eric Cheung

INTRODUCTIONS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS:

Morris began the meeting by complimenting DVRPC on its new spacious facilities. He then announced that EPA, DEP and the City of Philadelphia, among others, concluded an enforcement action against Sunoco worth $275 million in injunctive relief, fines and penalties and supplemental environmental projects. This enforcement action is the culmination of a five-year effort. A large portion of the supplemental environmental project money will go to the City of Philadelphia. $400,000 will be used to pay the differential cost ($.20 per gallon) of using ULSD in all of the City's heavy duty vehicles for one year. Another $1.2 million will go to retrofitting municipal fleets with clean diesel equipment. PDD will play a key role in determining how to distribute this funding. Morris noted that retrofit vendors would be selected by the City through a competitive bidding process and that ULSD can be made available immediately through Sprague Energy. Lastly, Morris informed everybody about legislation introduced in the U.S. Senate by Voinovich and Inhofe called the "Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2005." If passed into law, this initiative would provide $200 million a year over a five-year period in grants and loans to states to develop diesel retrofit programs. Morris stressed that this was an opportunity for PDD to have clean diesel projects ready to go in case the law is adopted and funding becomes available. Having a collection of projects can attract more funding to the City of Philadelphia.

PHILADELPHIA DIESEL DIFFERENCE ACTIVITIES UPDATE:

Eric began his activities update by reminding everyone that Clean Air Council had upgraded its phone system and that his new extension is 114. He noted that the City of Philadelphia's retrofit project using VEPCO settlement funding is almost set to begin, but that some administrative things need to be attended to first. Morris added that the City is setting up an accounting system that ensures that VEPCO money used to offset the cost of purchasing ULSD is not applied to similar funding being provided by the Sunoco enforcement settlement. PDD continues to be promoted to other interested parties outside of Philadelphia, according to Eric. On June 16th he spoke about PDD at a meeting of the Air Quality Technical Advisory Committee (AQTAC). Lastly, Eric said he has been in communication with the Silvi Group, which works with construction materials. Eric's contact there said Silvi may be interested in participating in an Adopt-A-School Bus program involving Boyertown School District. Eric met this contact as part of his AQTAC presentation.

CLEAN YELLOW BUS ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEASTERN PENNSYLVANIA (CYBA) REPORT:

Eric said CYBA work for the foreseeable future would involve encouraging as many area school districts as possible to submit clean diesel project proposals for U.S. EPA's Clean School Bus USA funding.

GRANT OPPORTUNITIES:
Eric noted that there were no submissions from PDD stakeholders for the U.S. EPA Truck Engine Idle Reduction Technology Demonstration Program solicitation, which closed June 6. He added that two U.S. EPA diesel retrofit grant opportunities are due in July, including the National Clean Diesel Campaign Demonstration Assistance Agreement to employ verified clean diesel technologies in nonroad applications (July 1) and the aforementioned Clean School Bus USA Assistance Agreement (July 22). Clean Air Council has found no Port fleet interested in applying for the National Clean Diesel funding and will look to other fleets for potential applicants.

MONTHLY PRESENTATION:
Mike Panich from Shurepower presented to the group about his company's products. Mike began by explaining that nearly all consumer or industrial goods are shipped to some extent by trucks. Long haul trucking is the backbone of this country's economy. According to him, there are 550,000 long haul trucks on the road. Every day the trucks are on the road, the drivers need approximately 10 hours off the road for sleeping purposes to ensure they remain safe drivers. In fact, truck drivers are legally required to take extended rest periods. Unfortunately, during these hours, the trucks are left idling. Mike explained that the primary reason trucks idle is for heating or cooling purposes to keep the cabs comfortable.

The average truck idles 1,830 hours annually. It produces 390 lbs of CO, 1,024 lbs. of NOx and 22 tons of CO2 each year as a result. Furthermore overnight idling costs truck operators $2,400 in fuel and $250 in additional maintenance. Long haul trucks collectively consume 838 million gallons of fuel annually. World oil production capacity may peak as early as 2006 or 2007.

Truck Stop Electrification (TSE) replaces oil consumption from idling with electricity, and ultimately whatever resources are needed to generate that power. TSE is a market solution, because more people will use it as diesel prices go up in reaction to oil production peaking. While TSE is a good way to reduce oil consumption it does not guarantee an improvement in emissions, because it simply shifts pollution coming from the trucks to the pollution emitted in order to produce electricity. But it is easier to control and monitor pollution from power plants than from mobile sources. TSE can also reduce noise from truck stops. Anti-idling legislation, Mike observed, like the ones in place in Philadelphia, help TSE vendors.

The goal of Shurepower is to create a nationally-branded system with TSE availability at truck stops across the country. The national branding will ensure uniform quality for truck drivers who use its TSE. Shurepower follows the RV park concept of providing an electrification system to meet the driver's needs. It does so by offering a pedestal that truck drivers can plug their electrical devices into. Shurepower works differently from IdleAire, because it focuses on delivering the electricity rather than the collection of additional amenities that IdleAire offers. Shurepower does offer "Komfort Kits" to provide heat and a breaker box for those drivers who need it. For the most part, however, it assumes that the OEMs will start offering such devices themselves in the future.

Shurepower's TSE system is attractive to truck stop owners, because it brings more truck traffic in for those drivers looking for electricity and there is no up-front investment required by the truck stop. Also revenue-sharing arrangements are possible. Moreover, no on-site personnel is needed to ensure continued operations, which helps keep the costs down to $1 an hour as compared to $1.30 or $1.40 an hour for IdleAire technology. Mike believes that the payback from fuel cost savings for any equipment that truckers must buy to take advantage of Shurepower's TSE is about 16 months. Half of all trucks are owner-operated. Shurepower is working to enable its system to be accessible via credit cards, which also make it easier to account for NOx/CO2 reductions.

The demand for TSE will grow in the future as Mike says 500,000 long haul trucks will be equipped to take advantage of TSE by 2014. Trucks will be designed so that A/C and heating units can be plugged in to run on electricity when the engines are off. Also, new advances in technology will enable refrigeration units, which some long haul trucks carry, to be powered by electricity. Lastly, Shurepower is working on a variation in its TSE design so that it can be used by truckers who back in to truck stops.

Mike then offered a comparison of Shurepower's product with IdleAire's advanced electrification system. Mike noted that Shurepower's product leverages emerging developments by OEMs to provide more electrical devices in their trucks, its TSE system can be attached to devices anywhere in the truck, and there are lower installation and maintenance costs. While IdleAire offers a communications and entertainment system, advances in the telecommunications field could make these offerings obsolete. Shurepower's business model is solely to provide electricity and not telecommunications.

Lastly, Mike said that Shurepower is looking seriously into emission reduction credits, which would further reduce costs to the truck stops and the truck fleets. This is necessary to compete with IdleAire, which can benefit from subsidies included in proposed energy and transportation bills.

NEXT MEETING AND LOCATION:
The next meeting will be held July 18, 2005 at DVRPC's new offices. DVRPC will be providing a tour.