Carbon-Neutral Goal At Bryn Mawr College Gets $100K Funding Boost

BRYN MAWR, PA — Bryn Mawr College has received state grand funding to help reach its goal of becoming carbon-neutral.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently awarded $2.9 million in 2022 Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant funding to municipalities, schools, and businesses around the state to switch to zero- or low-emission vehicles.

Bryn Mawr College was among the recipients.

The Main Line higher education institution got $100,000 to buy its first electric bus as part of the college’s goal to reach carbon neutrality by 2035.

The DEP Alternative Fuels Incentive Grant (AFIG) program supports projects to replace older gasoline or diesel fueled vehicles with cleaner fuel vehicles and install related fueling infrastructure to improve air quality in Pennsylvania.

The 28 funded projects will install 32 electric vehicle chargers for private and public use and put 95 electric vehicles, 24 compressed or renewable natural gas vehicles, and 11 propane vehicles on the road.

Nine of the vehicles will be fully electric long-haul tractor trailers, the first supported by the AFIG program.

Several other projects are for transit buses and garbage trucks.

These three types of vehicles are the biggest consumers of gasoline, according to the U.S. Department of Energy web page on average annual gasoline use by vehicle type.

The projects will be fully paid for with DEP funds.

DEP receives approximately $5 million in funding each year through the utilities gross receipts tax collected during each fiscal year to carry out the provisions of the Alternative Fuels Incentive Act.