Green efforts reap savings
Clay Community Schools, Brazil, Ind.
For Clay Community Schools’ transportation staff, implementing
environmentally-friendly practices has not only
reduced fuel consumption and the amount of exhaust their
school buses emit, it has resulted in substantial cost savings.
For more than 10 years, the department has saved used oil
and recycles it to heat the bus garage in the winter. “We have
natural gas, but if we used that to heat the building, it would
cost a ton,” Transportation Director Frank Misner says. “This
practice is probably cutting our heating bill by 80 percent.”
In addition, 15 of the district’s 75 buses were retrofitted with
particulate filters several years ago and Chris McVay, lead
technician, says the department will receive 10 more over the
next few years.
The department implemented an anti-idling policy more than
three years ago. Drivers only idle their buses in cold weather,
and even then, McVay says the department has cut back on the
amount of idle time allotted for each bus. It has reduced the time
by 20 to 30 minutes, which, in addition to decreasing emissions
output, saves around one gallon of fuel per bus. Clay Community
Schools operates 56 school bus routes daily.
The department’s green efforts extend to its office practices
as well. The staff has been using VersaTrans routing software
for more than 15 years. Switching to an automated system
has cut down on the amount of paper used and waste generated.
For instance, Misner says he prints route information for
substitute drivers, but they are required to bring back the
pages when they have completed
filling in for a regular driver so that
the routes do not have to be printed
multiple times.
The staff also makes it a point to
perform simple acts to conserve energy,
such as turning off the lights when
leaving the facility. “It’s really just common
sense,” Misner says.
— KELLY ROHER
Fleet Facts
School buses: 75
Students transported daily: 4,400
Schools served: 10
Transportation staff: 90
Area of service: Western central Indiana
Bus retrofits, decentralized parking, fuel cards and streamlined routes
have helped Clayton County’s transportation department to be more efficient and more green.
Many reasons to go green
Clayton County Public Schools, Jonesboro, Ga.
Protecting the environment and saving money are some
of the key reasons for going green. Clayton County (Ga.)
Public Schools cites another important reason.
“We wanted to ensure that our vehicles are as clean as
can possibly be to protect our most valuable resource, which is
our students,” explains John Lyles, director of transportation for
the school district. “We believe that transportation is an integral
part of student achievement.”
To reduce its fleet’s emissions, Clayton County has retrofitted
its buses with particulate matter filters, decentralized parking
(dividing the county into four zones), expanded fueling options
(with fleet fuel cards) and streamlined bus routes through GPS
and routing software, among other initiatives.
As a result, the county has saved $250,000 annually, based on
reduced fuel and maintenance costs. Lyles says that dead-head
miles have been reduced more than 30 percent. “[Before,] our
buses averaged about 19 miles round-trip to fuel at the transportation
campus, and then they returned to their proper location.
Now, the average distance from park to fuel locations, now that
they’re decentralized, is about six miles.
“The drivers also see the benefit,” Lyles says, pointing to the
alleviated stress by mapping their routes and staggering bell
times to avoid the severe Atlanta traffic. Newly implemented
anti-idling standards have seen appreciation as well. Principals
have received calls from parents praising them for the
practice, Lyles said.
The transportation department’s
green efforts aren’t limited to the
fleet itself. “We reduced paper and ink
usages by networking everyone to one
central copier,” Lyles said. “There was
some concern initially because people
were now having to get up and walk.”
He chuckles. “We actually saw a decrease
in the items being printed.”
— JOE CROSBY
Fleet Facts
School buses: 525
Students transported daily: 32,000
Schools served: 61
Transportation staff: 650
Area of service: 143 sq. miles
{+PAGEBREAK+}
Colton Joint Unified School District’s 50 route buses are all powered
by CNG.
A remarkable transformation
Colton Joint Unified School District, Colton, Calif.
Back in 1996, Colton (Calif.) Joint Unified School District ordered
three compressed natural gas (CNG) school buses
— the district’s first powered by the alternative fuel. Now,
all 50 of the district’s route buses are CNG. The conversion
was achieved with more than $6 million in grants, most
of which was from the local and state air quality agencies.
Colton’s transportation manager, Rick Feinstein, says that the
CNG fleet reduces pollution and saves money at the same time.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District estimated that
Colton has cut annual emissions by 26,000 pounds of nitrous
oxides and 2,000 pounds of particulate matter.
Regarding financial savings, the average price of CNG in the
2007-08 school year was about $1.09, and that’s before a 50-cent
per gallon federal rebate for the alternative fuel.
Feinstein says that CNG also reduces labor costs in the fueling
process. Instead of drivers having to wait in line to fill their bus
at a pump, they connect the bus to a fuel hose at their parking
stall, and the bus is filled overnight. This saves the district about
50 hours of labor per week, Feinstein says.
Colton follows the California Air Resources Board’s bus idling
rules, which require school bus drivers to turn off their engines
immediately at schools and to not idle more than five minutes at
other locations.
To help in enforcing the rules, the district recently began using
a GPS system to monitor bus idling and speed.
“Our veteran drivers are very aware of the benefits of our
green fleet,” Feinstein says. “Our GPS system helps us reinforce
green management behaviors
not only training new drivers but
among our entire staff.
“The most important fact is that
we’re transporting children, and studies
show that their lungs are more affected
by pollution,” he adds. “It’s also
a good example for students, who are
now learning about living greener.”
— THOMAS MCMAHON
Fleet Facts
School buses: 60
Students transported daily: 6,600
Schools served: 27
Transportation staff: 70
Area of service: 48 sq. miles
Madeline Ruggiero (front row, right), contract manager at First Student’s
operation in Hamden, Conn., and her employees use energy-efficient
fluorescent light bulbs in their offices.
Operation targets retrofits
First Student Inc., Hamden, Conn.
First Student Inc.’s Hamden, Conn., branch has made great
progress in its effort to “green” its fleet and facility.
Last year, the operation’s school buses were retrofitted
with emissions-control equipment through the city of
Hamden’s partnership with ICLEI — Local Governments for Sustainability
USA.
ICLEI worked with five local governments in the Northeast on
an initiative to reduce school bus emissions in the region. The
city was one of the five communities to receive funding from
the EPA’s Clean School Bus USA program. Hamden received a
$20,000 grant, which, after partnering with First Student’s Hamden
operation, was used to retrofit 25 of the branch’s school
buses with diesel oxidation catalysts. Employees at the Hamden
branch donated the labor to install the equipment.
Moreover, based on the success of the ICLEI initiative, the
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection provided
First Student’s Hamden branch with a grant to retrofit the remaining
32 active buses in its fleet.
The green practices at First Student’s Hamden facility are
not only evident in its retrofit efforts. Madeline Ruggiero,
contract manager, says the operation uses a vehicle wash
system from TransClean Inc. to clean its buses. All TransClean
systems include specially-formulated detergents that are
environmentally friendly, and the systems themselves are
designed to help protect the environment as well. “Our buses
are put on a pad that recycles the water and filters the soap
so that it doesn’t go into the drain,”
Ruggiero explains.
The staff has increased energy
efficiency in their offices by using
fluorescent light bulbs, she adds. The
operation has also been utilizing EDULOG
routing software for more than a
decade to cut down on paper usage
and waste accumulation.
— KELLY ROHER
Fleet Facts
School buses: 110
Students transported daily: 6,700
Schools served: 1
Transportation staff: 115
Area of service: 33.1 sq. miles
{+PAGEBREAK+}
As FCBMRDD buses drop off students, signs remind drivers: “No Idling
— Children Breathing.”
Green is only way to grow
Franklin County Board of Mental Retardation and
Developmental Disabilities, Columbus, Ohio
The Franklin County (Ohio) Board of Mental Retardation
and Development Disabilities (FCBMRDD) is proof positive
that going with the fl ow can have a big payoff.
“We weren’t fighting this,” Paul Chenderlin, the
board’s director of transportation, says about the decision to go
green in 2003.
In addition to switching all of its vehicles to biodiesel, the organization
created a “Green Team,” which is responsible for everything
from overseeing the recycling of materials — including
office computers — to utilizing energy-efficient light bulbs and
installing bike racks for employees.
FCBMRDD Superintendent Jed W. Morison credits Mary Jo
Kilroy, former county commissioner and now a U.S. congresswoman,
with encouraging the board to apply for funds and
move in the green direction.
In 2005, the board received a grant that assisted in the purchase
of new, cleaner-burning vehicles and in making conversions of
many of the existing buses in its fleet. The grant also helped subsidize
the board’s fuel costs.
Currently, 80 percent of the FCBMRDD’s fleet has been
equipped with some type of green initiative. Looking ahead, the
board plans to heavily research other alternative fuel vehicles.
“We will really investigate what is going to be cost effective
and, primarily, what is best for our riders,” Chenderlin says.
With the EPA’s mandate for further reduction in emissions
on all newly manufactured diesel vehicles
by 2010, Chenderlin is excited
about growing toward a greener
fleet. The FCBMRDD, he says, is willing
to take the incremental steps
necessary to become more eco-friendly.
“I hope our experience will
encourage others to be more green,”
Chenderlin says.
— CAMELLA LOBO
Fleet Facts
School buses: 99
Students transported daily: 2,800
Schools served: 22
Transportation staff: 306
Area of service: 540 sq. miles
Kip’s Bus Service installed solar panels on the office roof to power the
facility’s cordless phones, two-way radio and computers.
Company makes great strides
Kip’s Bus Service Inc., Curwensville, Pa.
Kip’s Bus Service was started by current owner Bill Gourley’s
father, Clifford “Kip” Gourley, more than 50 years
ago. Over the decades, the company has remained well-connected
with the surrounding community, as most
of the employees attended the schools they now serve in the
Curwensville (Pa.) Area School District.
The “greening” of Kip’s began 10 years ago when the company
had a power failure and lost radio communication with
the buses out on the road. The office phones also lost power because
the handsets are cordless. Bill Gourley decided to install
solar panels on the roof of the office to power the telephones,
two-way radio and computers.
Gourley also makes biodiesel from used vegetable oil collected
from local restaurants. “I have been experimenting with
biodiesel for about seven years,” he says. Although he
appreciates the fuel’s environmental benefits, “in reality it
was the out-of-control diesel fuel prices that was the driving
force,” he explains. The company blends the homemade
biodiesel with regular diesel in varying amounts according to
outdoor temperatures.
When temperatures are cold, the garage is heated by a waste
oil burner. “The waste oil burner was a natural response to a
problem we have of trying to find a responsible manner of disposing
of our waste oil from oil changes and get some heat in
our garage in the bargain,” Gourley says.
Kip’s has also had an anti-idling policy in place for several
years, which limits idling to a five-minute warm up in the
morning, or up to 15 minutes in extremely cold weather.
Drivers also shut the engines off when dropping off and picking
up students at school.
Lastly, as the company is located in a rural area of Pennsylvania,
the idea of keeping farm animals
is not a foreign concept. Gourley raises
chickens at the bus lot for the fresh
eggs, which he shares with the drivers
and other employees. Handily, all paper
waste from the office is shredded and
reused as nesting in the chicken coop.
— CLAIRE ATKINSON
Fleet Facts
School buses: 17
Students transported daily: 1,100
Schools served: 3
Transportation staff: 27
{+PAGEBREAK+}
Portland Public Schools runs most of its fleet on biodiesel but has also
begun acquiring CNG buses like this one.
Putting children first
Portland Public Schools, Portland, Maine
The “going green” issue was just a blip on the radar in
2002 when Kevin Mallory, transportation director of
Portland (Maine) Public Schools (PPS), was the first in
the state, he says, to enact a no-idling policy for school
buses servicing the district.
Since then, PPS has been consistently recognized by the EPA for
its role as a leader in the state’s green bus initiative. In addition to
its success in emissions reduction, the district worked with the city
of Portland to designate the city as a “Clean Air Zone.”
“This was primarily aimed at the health of the children we
transport,” Mallory says. He says 15 percent of the bus riders
have asthma or other respiratory conditions.
In addition to eliminating idling while loading and unloading
students, the policy also focuses on utilizing the shortest routes
in order to limit students’ exposure to fumes.
Having retrofitted its older buses and after completing the
transition to biodiesel in its fleet, it is no surprise that PPS is
homing in on further technology in clean-burning vehicles —
the compressed natural gas (CNG) bus. The district has had
three CNG buses since 2006 and plans on purchasing more in
the next couple of years. “But I know we can go way beyond
that,” Mallory says. “CNG technology is just a bridge to the future
of bus transportation.”
PPS was able to strike a deal with Portland’s public transit system
that allows the district to fuel and service its school buses at
the transit system’s natural gas station. “We were very lucky,”
Mallory says. “Portland is very supportive
of the green movement.”
Mallory stresses the importance of
providing a reliable infrastructure to
support the transportation industry’s
clean energy efforts, such as funding
to invest in CNG technology and creating
more fueling stations. “Because
grants are not enough,” he says.
— CAMELLA LOBO
Fleet Facts
School buses: 27
Students transported daily: 2,700
Schools served: 15
Transportation staff: 31
Area of service: 20 sq. miles
Red Lion Bus Co. has made great strides in the efficiency and environmental
friendliness of its facilities, resulting in significant cost savings.
Green office and shop
Red Lion Bus Co., Red Lion, Pa.
With 98 school buses in daily operation, Red Lion
Bus Co. President Dennis Warner saw an opportunity
in implementing green practices. “There’s significant potential there for conserving and limiting
fuel consumption,” Warner says.
Although the company already has an anti-idling policy in
place, Warner says they recently put out a notice to staff about a
state law going into effect in February that limits idle time to five
minutes. “It fits right in with what our idling policies have been
for some time,” he says. “Before, we said drivers can start up a
bus and idle while they do their pre-trip inspection, which they
should be able to complete in five minutes, more or less.”
In addition, engine block heaters at all three bus facilities
are temperature- and timer-controlled, saving power and fuel.
Similarly, the company is in the process of adjusting all engine
governors to a lower top-end speed.
Maintenance Fleet Supervisor Bill Svoboda reports that the
10,000-sq. ft. maintenance facility is heated entirely with waste
oil generated by the fleet, representing an annual savings of
$8,000 to $10,000. “The addition of a second waste oil furnace
and a 50-percent increase in our storage capacity have eliminated
the need to haul any waste oil from our facility,” he says. The
company was able to offset some of the cost of the system with
a state small business grant for reducing energy costs.
Red Lion Bus has also installed a parts-cleaning system
that recycles the solvent using a distillation system, eliminating
the hazardous waste associated with a solvent-based
parts cleaner and the cost of waste disposal.
Lastly, all waste paper from the
office is shredded, bagged and sent
home with one of the company’s
part-time school bus drivers, who is
also a farmer.
“He and a neighbor farmer use it for
bedding in animal stalls,” Warner explains.
“Apparently, it’s pretty comfortable
to the cows and horses.”
— CLAIRE ATKINSON
Fleet Facts
School buses: 98
Students transported daily: 8,700
Schools served: 3
Transportation staff: 146
Area of service: 250 sq. miles
{+PAGEBREAK+}
San Jose drivers (from left) Karla Villareal, Roberta Lopez and Madeleine
Bettencourt pose next to a CNG bus. At the top of the photo are
some of the district’s solar panels.
Worth the extra effort
San Jose Unified School District, San Jose, Calif.
Some liken the “green” movement to a fad. But for others,
green isn’t en vogue — it’s standard operating procedure.
Enter the San Jose (Calif.) Unified School District.
“It is part of doing business,” says Corrin Reynolds, the
district’s transportation supervisor. “It’s what we do.”
Reynolds has been with the district nearly continuously since
1982, beginning as a driver. It was about 10 years ago that the
district started making real efforts to clean up the fleet and
increase recycling efforts. It was then that the transportation department
began using grant money to purchase 32 compressed
natural gas (CNG) buses to replace older, high-polluting buses.
Reynolds admits that maintenance on the CNG buses is more
time-exhaustive for the mechanics, citing the complexity of their
electrical systems versus the older, simpler diesel vehicles. But,
“when the diesel prices were up so high, the CNG prices were
considerably cheaper,” he says. “So there were some operational
savings by using the CNG buses.”
Ten years ago, the district started reusing and recycling bus
wash water, and the steam-cleaning residue is now collected
and sent to a hazardous materials site. As with the CNG maintenance,
there is an increased effort. “It’s more work to do [these
things] rather than letting the contaminated water run off into
the bay and harm the environment,” Reynolds says.
The district has continued to work on reducing emissions with
the recent addition of particulate traps on all 18 diesel buses.
San Jose follows California’s anti-idling rules and has adjusted
bus routes and bell times to avoid congestion. Many bus stops
have been moved to strategically centralized areas to service
more students at one pickup without
requiring students to walk long distances
or causing time- and fuel-consuming
detours into neighborhoods.
Again, “there are drawbacks for
being green,” Reynolds says, “but
being green, being good for the
kids and reducing emissions, is a
benefit overall.”
— JOE CROSBY
Fleet Facts
School buses: 42
Students transported daily: 2,600
Schools served: 39
Transportation staff: 40
Area of service: 60 sq. miles
Staff from Manatee’s vehicle maintenance and recycling and energy departments
display the cord of one of the district’s plug-in hybrid buses.
Green at every branch
School District of Manatee County, Bradenton, Fla.
In Manatee County (Fla.), the “commitment to green” extends
to every branch of the school district.
For the transportation and vehicle maintenance departments,
efficiency is a key factor in going green.
In the 2007-08 school year, the district was able to eliminate
eight bus routes through district-wide bell time adjustment and
route consolidation. The result was a reduction of 235,000 miles
traveled compared to the previous school year.
The vehicle maintenance department has also reduced mileage
and fuel use by refining its roadside response system and improving
communication with drivers, resulting in fewer road calls.
Another green effort is the district’s anti-idling policy, which reduces
students’ exposure to pollutants and cuts fuel consumption
and engine wear. Reducing staff’s exposure to pollutants is
also important. To that end, the vehicle maintenance department
completed an indoor air quality test to confirm the adequacy of
its exhaust ventilation system.
The department has also made recycling a priority, from lubricants
and coolants to brake shoes to office paper.
Manatee runs all of its school buses on B20 biodiesel. In 2007,
the district became the first in the nation to receive IC Bus’ plug-in
hybrid school bus.
The school district created an energy and recycling department,
which is charged with maximizing conservation and reuse
opportunities. Through district-wide training and audits, the
department was able to reduce energy costs by more than $1
million in its first year.
Manatee’s students also get involved in green efforts, volunteering
for such activities as planting native flora.
“All these departments are really
an extension of the classroom,” says
Don Ross, associate director of vehicle
maintenance. “The kids ride the bus,
they see the recycling, they see all
these things that we do. These are our
future leaders, and hopefully we’re
setting a good example.”
— THOMAS MCMAHON
Fleet Facts
School buses: 230
Students transported daily: 16,000
Schools served: 63
Area of service: 714 sq. miles