BCGR: ACU Green (Part 2)
By: Chris Whited, KRBC News
Updated: March 31, 2009
We continue our look at green efforts on the Abilene Christian University Campus. In this edition of the KRBC Big Country Green Report we look at how the university is using electricity to power transportation on campus.
You might expect to see a very small on the streets of any city in Europe, but one can be found on the campus of Abilene Christian University. The small size may be one of it's unique characteristics but what makes it stand out is that it's 100-percent electric power. The electric truck is turning heads on campus and helping turning minds to green efforts.
Scot Colley, ACU Assistant Director of Physical Resources told KRBC News that "all the students on campus like it. When they see it they want us to stop so they ca look at it and want to ask what it is. We've had some even ask if they can take a ride in it. It's very quiet, you don't hear it coming. You have to watch when you sneak up on folks because they don't hear you coming. It gets quite a few looks from the students on campus and gets quite a lot of positive feedback from them."
The truck has been part of the university's green fleet for the last seven months. It runs about three days on a full charge and in case your wondering, the top speed is 26-miles per hour. While the truck may be the mascot of the green transportation on campus, it's not the only green vehicle. There are eight carts at ACU that also run on electricity. Colley says more and more will be switched from gasoline to electric power in the future.
"It's kind of our job. You know we're placed here and God as given us all this and it's our duty to take care of it and preserve it the best we can and this one of the measures we're trying to do to take care of what we've been given," explained Colley.
Electricity isn't is the only green power source being tested. He says the environmental science and agricultural departments are currently working on a way to turn the waste cooking oil from the cafeteria into bio-diesel for use in tractors on the farms.
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