The University of Washington Motor Pool is pushing ahead with its plans to utilize biodiesel in its diesel-powered vehicles.

“The use of biofuels, particularly biodiesel, is in the news, and many people have been asking, ‘What is the Motor Pool doing?” according to the Motor Pool newsletter.

The University currently uses B5 in their diesel-powered vehicles. “B5” is a classification of biodiesel that consists of 5 percent biodiesel and 95 percent petroleum diesel. The UW Motor Pool has been using B5 since the fall of 2006, when a biodiesel pump was installed at the motor vehicle depot.

“In the fall of 2006, [the UW Motor Pool] installed a diesel blend at our fuel pumps that includes 5 percent biodiesel, with the aim to increase this to 20 percent after the trial period,” according to the UW Motor Pool Web site.

That trial period is nearing its end as the UW Motor Pool is making the switch from B5 fuel to B20 fuel, which includes 20 percent biodiesel.

“The UW Motor Pool is going to start using B20 in the next few weeks, and there are plans for B90 in the future,” said Ari Kasapyan, marketing and communications manager at the UW Motor Pool.

The move to B20 in the coming weeks places the UW Motor Pool ahead of schedule on the biodiesel front. The spring 2006 UW Motor Pool newsletter, the first to outline plans for the implementation of biodiesel, pegged the starting date of the B20 biodiesel blends in 2009.

All of these changes are coming along as part of the Green Fleet Initiative for the University, originally authored by David Carr, the manager of Motor Pool Operations. The initiative covers a vast range of recycling, sustainability and other “green” policies meant to reduce the environmental impact of the University’s day-to-day operations.

“Each of us must be the change agent that moves the sustainability effort forward,” Carr said upon the creation of the Green Fleet Initiative.

The Green Fleet Initiative covers a wide range of smaller green goals. The initiative seeks to reduce overall petroleum usage on campus; promote the U-Car Program, the UW Motor Pool’s car sharing program; replace outgoing vehicles with hybrid and high-mileage replacements; and reduce the overall number of vehicles in the UW Motor Pool.

The Green Fleet Initiative is one of the larger steps being taken to reduce the University’s environmental impact.

“Sustainability of our planet, let alone our region, may be the most critical issue of the 21st century,” UW President Mark Emmert said in an interview for Columns magazine. “The UW’s commitment to sustainability starts at home, with dedicated efforts to practice and promote environmental stewardship in all things that we do.”

[Reach reporter Anthony Michael Erickson at news@thedaily.washington.edu.]