A 3/30/2005 SSc4.3 Ruling stated that "Supplying fleet vehicles with biodiesel fuel is an acceptable approach for achieving the intent of this credit," however this CIR addressed an police fleet vehicle occupancy and we have a K-12 school occupancy (a high school, specifically). A 6/25/2003 SSc4.1 Ruling for a K-12 "encouraged [the project team] to investigate the use of alternative fuel buses and pursue SSc4.3", but does not provide guidance on calculating compliance. All of our schoolbusses in our public school system use B20 biodiesel fuel, thus we would like to seek equivalence for this Credit based on the 3/30/2005 SSc4.3 Ruling, however since school busses do not have a one-vehicle-to-one-occupant relationship, the calculations in this Ruling do not apply to our project type. How do you demonstate compliance through B20-fueled school busses serving not only our project but an entire school system? We furthermore assume that compliance is deomnstrated by school bus capacity, not actual ridership, as ridership is lower than our school bus fleet\'s capacity at this time.
The noted ruling, dated 3/30/05, establishes a calculation to demonstrate that the number of provided biodiesel fuel vehicles supports 15% of the facility occupants. The same calculation methodology can be used for this project. In order to use this alternative calculation to demonstrate compliance, the project must first establish an overall project occupancy including students, faculty, and all support staff. The team must then demonstrate that the capacity of the biodiesel buses serving the school is equal to a minimum of 15% of the total number of occupants. While the bus system supports the entire school district, use only the capacity of the buses that transport students to the school in the calculation. Applicable Internationally.