Lake Houston Sentinel - News
School district pursuing cleaner bus emissions
By JOSH HARDWICK
The Crosby Independent School District (Crosby ISD) plans to cut school bus emissions by as much as 70% in its fleet of 70 school buses next spring thanks to a grant awarded by the Texas Commission of Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
As part of the organization’s, “Clean Bus” program, the TCEQ is offering $8 million on a first-come, first-serve basis to Texas school districts operating one or more diesel-fueled school buses with the goal of reducing students’ exposure to diesel exhaust fumes in and around the vehicles.
Prolonged exposure to exhaust fumes created by diesel combustion can pose potentially serious health problems for both school bus passengers and drivers, many of whom spend over an hour each day on the bus, said transportation director Donna Slot.
“Crosby ISD and the transportation department take pride in doing their part to help reduce emissions from the district’s school bus fleet,” Slot added. “Efforts made to improve the quality of our air benefits the community’s most valuable resources – the children and families we serve.”
Crosby ISD received $243,180 in grant money from the TCEQ to retrofit 42 of its regularly-operated buses with cleaner, more efficient exhaust systems.
Current diesel buses depend on open crankcase vents that prevent unfiltered contaminants from damaging engine components during the combustion process, a method of emissions that saves on engine wear-and-tear but allows pollutants to disperse around and sometimes even inside the cab of the vehicle.
Slot said that money from the TCEQ will be used to purchase closed crankcase systems with specialized filters to collect exhaust pollutants. Instead of dispersing contaminants into the air, the new system will feed exhaust into a two-stage filter to trap and reduce particulate matter by as much as 70 percent.
Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not require existing buses to meet tougher emissions standards, Slot said that the TCEQ grant will enable the district to bring many of its older buses up to code.
This summer the district also adopted a, “no idling” policy intended to cut back on diesel fuel usage during a time when diesel prices were approaching five dollars per gallon. The policy states district vehicles’ engines must not be allowed to run without moving for longer than five minutes.
Whereas previously the school bus fleet would be allowed to idle for several minutes each morning to warm up before their daily routes, Slot said that newer engine designs no longer require idling to run effectively.
“Our goal is to reduce children’s exposure to exhaust and improve our fuel economy, and you wouldn’t believe how many idling hours we have eliminated,” said Slot.
Even though gas prices have stabilized in recent months, Slot said the district will continue to enact the no idling policy in conjunction with the buses’ cleaner exhaust systems.
For more information about the TCEQ’s Clean School Bus program, visit www.texascleanschoolbus.org.
As part of the organization’s, “Clean Bus” program, the TCEQ is offering $8 million on a first-come, first-serve basis to Texas school districts operating one or more diesel-fueled school buses with the goal of reducing students’ exposure to diesel exhaust fumes in and around the vehicles.
Prolonged exposure to exhaust fumes created by diesel combustion can pose potentially serious health problems for both school bus passengers and drivers, many of whom spend over an hour each day on the bus, said transportation director Donna Slot.
“Crosby ISD and the transportation department take pride in doing their part to help reduce emissions from the district’s school bus fleet,” Slot added. “Efforts made to improve the quality of our air benefits the community’s most valuable resources – the children and families we serve.”
Crosby ISD received $243,180 in grant money from the TCEQ to retrofit 42 of its regularly-operated buses with cleaner, more efficient exhaust systems.
Current diesel buses depend on open crankcase vents that prevent unfiltered contaminants from damaging engine components during the combustion process, a method of emissions that saves on engine wear-and-tear but allows pollutants to disperse around and sometimes even inside the cab of the vehicle.
Slot said that money from the TCEQ will be used to purchase closed crankcase systems with specialized filters to collect exhaust pollutants. Instead of dispersing contaminants into the air, the new system will feed exhaust into a two-stage filter to trap and reduce particulate matter by as much as 70 percent.
Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) does not require existing buses to meet tougher emissions standards, Slot said that the TCEQ grant will enable the district to bring many of its older buses up to code.
This summer the district also adopted a, “no idling” policy intended to cut back on diesel fuel usage during a time when diesel prices were approaching five dollars per gallon. The policy states district vehicles’ engines must not be allowed to run without moving for longer than five minutes.
Whereas previously the school bus fleet would be allowed to idle for several minutes each morning to warm up before their daily routes, Slot said that newer engine designs no longer require idling to run effectively.
“Our goal is to reduce children’s exposure to exhaust and improve our fuel economy, and you wouldn’t believe how many idling hours we have eliminated,” said Slot.
Even though gas prices have stabilized in recent months, Slot said the district will continue to enact the no idling policy in conjunction with the buses’ cleaner exhaust systems.
For more information about the TCEQ’s Clean School Bus program, visit www.texascleanschoolbus.org.
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