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Every Day Is Earth Day at SEPTA

Every Day Is Earth Day at SEPTA

Category: Press Release
Published

As a cornerstone of Southeastern Pennsylvania’s regional sustainability, SEPTA connects people to opportunity while minimizing carbon emissions, reducing traffic, and supporting healthy communities. SEPTA is proud to observe Earth Day 2022 by celebrating its environmental performance over the past year.

“As an industry leader in efforts to make public transportation more sustainable, we see every day as Earth Day at SEPTA,” said SEPTA General Manager Leslie S. Richards. “We are committed to staying on the cutting-edge by utilizing the newest technologies and innovative practices to ensure that SEPTA is being a good neighbor to the communities we serve.”

Highlights

  • Generating over 25,000 MWh of clean, renewable electricity at the Elk Hill solar farm in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, representing 7% of SEPTA’s total electricity demand. Elk Hill’s solar capacity is scheduled to double in May 2022.
  • Bringing a third solar rooftop installation online at Fern Rock Shop in north Philadelphia. Together, Fern Rock, Berridge, and Callowhill facilities’ solar projects have generated over 4,400 MWh of renewable power, avoiding almost 1,500 tons of CO2e emissions.
  • Completing Phase 1 of a Zero-Emission Bus (ZEB) Master Plan, evaluating the feasibility replacing diesel hybrid buses with battery-electric buses (BEBs). Phase 2, evaluating fuel cell electric buses, is currently underway.
  • Implementing an enterprise-wide sustainability data management system, EMSYS, to facilitate tracking and analysis of SEPTA’s electricity, natural gas, vehicle fuel, water, waste, and recycling data.
  • Significant reductions in energy use at SEPTA’s 1234 Market St headquarters from a whole-building energy efficiency retrofit.
  • Maintaining certification of two maintenance facilities under the rigorous and globally recognized ISO 14001 standard for environmental management.

Emphasizing Sustainability is a key element of the SEPTA Forward Strategic Plan. SEPTA Forward recognizes the need to improve equity, accessibility, and sustainability as the region recovers from the COVID pandemic. To learn more about the strategic plan, please visit planning.septa.org.