Van Pools Blog

By Michael Norvell
VPSI’s VP Business Development

With the rapidly rising Mississippi River serving as a backdrop, the National Defense Industrial Association held its 2011 Environment, Energy Security & Sustainability (E2S2) Symposium and Exhibition in New Orleans from May 9 -12th . The annual conference attracts active duty military and Department of Defense (DoD) civilian personnel, along with environmental/sustainability officers from NASA, the US Army Corps of Engineers, the Department of Veterans Affairs, as well as private-sector providers like Boeing Energy and, for the past two years, VPSI.

Dr. Dorothy Robyn, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment addresses the E2S2.

Tuesday morning’s keynote address was given by Dr. Dorothy Robyn, Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Installations and Environment. Dr. Robyn described the DoD as “data starved” and challenged all branches, especially the Army, to become “test beds” that use technology to help them achieve their sustainability objectives. There was significant discussion about the environmental measurement and reporting requirements for Executive Order (EO) 13514. It was also pointed out that the biggest source of Scope III greenhouse gases (GHG) is commuter emissions, accounting for nearly 75 percent of the total.

Wednesday featured two concurrent sessions focused on vanpooling as a sustainable commuting solution that supports the federal government’s commitment to low carbon commuting. The first was given by Mr. Alonzo Moore of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. Mr. Moore employs vanpooling to transport nearly 10 percent of the 5,000 person workforce at this remote test range.

Later that day, I spoke to an audience that included Mr. Dale Cleland, Chief – Environmental Division of Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, where VPSI currently has 12 vanpools in operation. I stressed the ease with which vanpooling can be deployed anywhere in the country as well as the importance of collecting environmental data from their respective vanpool programs for EO 13514 reporting purposes. Currently VPSI has nearly 1,500 vanpools in operation at 115 military installations throughout the country.

VPSI was also an exhibitor at the conference and our booth was visited by over 150 guests. Several of the people who visited our booth are active vanpoolers like Trent Spencer, who works at the US Army Corps of Engineers headquarters in Washington, DC. One lucky visitor, Colonel James Marshall, a US Army Environmental Engineer, was the winner of a $499 Apple Gift Card.

Allen Feather spreads the word about VPSI.

VPSI representatives Victor Spencer and Allen Feather agreed the show was a big success. As Allen Feather observed, “It was nice running into so many visitors that were already familiar with VPSI’s vanpool services but it is always more fun explaining the concept to those who have yet to launch the program at their facility. They are always amazed at how much money participants save compared to driving alone and how quickly the program returns a significant environmental benefit to the installation.”