Parking discount offered to green car owners

IU is really going green.

The University is now offering employee discounts for those who own zero-emission vehicles or a car that meets the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED criteria, according to an e-mail sent by IU Parking Operations.

If employees own a car that meets the criteria, they are eligible to receive a 20 percent discount on an A or C permit.

The price for the 2009-10 school year A permit is $312, and the C permit is $114, according to IU Parking Operations. The applicable discount would reduce the price of an A permit by $62.40 down to $249.60 and the price of a C permit by $22.80 down to $91.20.

IU Parking Operations manager Doug Porter was not available for an interview by press time, and IU spokesman Larry MacIntyre said he did not have any additional information about the issue.

Porter recently told the Bloomington Herald-Times that an employee who own two vehicles, such as a Prius and a Hummer, can buy a permit with the Prius registration, get the discount and move their permit from one vehicle to the other.

A and C permits go on sale Monday, June 15. To receive the discounted parking permit, employees must bring their vehicle registration to the Office of Parking Operations and cannot purchase the permit online.

GREEN CARS

A list of LEED-certified vehicles that qualify for the 20 percent discount can be found online at http://parking.indiana.edu/parking_operations/leedvehicles.html.

Vehicles must score 40 or more in rankings provided by www.greenercars.org.
According to www.greenercars.org, the process of developing rankings include:

- Estimating pollution from vehicle manufacturing

- Counting air pollution according to the health problems caused by each pollutant

- Factoring in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide

- Combining the emissions estimates into a Green Score that runs on a scale from 0 to 100. The top vehicles this year score a 57, the average is 32 and the worst gas-guzzlers score about 16.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

What do you think about IU’s new parking policy that reduces permit cost for green car owners?

Please send your comments to editor@idsnews.com.