Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) has been selected to receive funding assistance to purchase eight electric school buses as part of Dominion Energy’s initial deployment of 50 buses across the Commonwealth. These buses will join FCPS’ current fleet of roughly 1,625 diesel-fueled buses.
FCPS was chosen in a competitive process after submitting an application with Dominion Energy during Fall 2019.
Dominion Energy will cover the difference in cost so that school districts pay no more for electric buses than they would for diesel models. Dominion will also subsidize the cost of necessary charging infrastructure.
Electric school buses in FCPS will benefit not only the school division and its community but the entire national capital area as they will help reduce carbon emissions, serve as a resource for national emergency planning efforts, provide stability and capacity to the grid with meeting increasing energy demands, and provide charging facilities for other jurisdictions in the area to use when traveling through Fairfax County.
School Board Policy 8542 states that FCPS is committed to take innovative and cost-effective steps to help the U.S. achieve climate stabilization.
The school division participates in several initiatives aimed at reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Other accomplishments include reaching a 35 percent reduction in emissions from natural gas, fuel oil, and electricity consumption of 72,500 metric tons in 2018 compared to 2008 despite an increase of occupied space by approximately 2.2 million square feet (an increase of nine percent).
