Last Updated: October 26, 2009
The first propane school bus fleet in Virginia has been unveiled in Gloucester County during a ceremony celebrated by Congressman Robert Wittman, Delegate Harvey Morgan and the Department of Environmental Quality.
Five diesel-powered school buses were replaced with propone school buses in Gloucester County during a ceremony on Monday, Oct. 26, 2009, at Page Middle School to celebrate the school district's commitment to environmental sustainability, energy independence, and economic security.
"Using propane-powered school buses is a step in the right direction to significantly decrease vehicle emissions and improve the air quality for our students," said Roger Kelly, director of Transportation for Gloucester County Public Schools. "We are excited to be involved in this clean school bus initiative."
The economic, public safety, and environmental benefits of the new bus fleet including:
"We are pleased and impressed with the forward thinking and actions of the Gloucester County School Board and administration," said Chelsea Jenkins, director of Virginia Clean Cities. "The propane school buses are providing opportunities for students and the community to observe and learn first-hand about alternative transportation technologies."
A $221,355 grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act EPA National Clean Diesel Program funded half of the project and Gloucester County Public Schools funded the remaining amount. To learn more about this project and alternative fuels visit www.hrccc.org.
"Because of DEQ's leadership, five Gloucester County school buses will be powered by propane which produce even less pollution than gasoline or diesel engines," said William C. Early, acting regional administrator, EPA mid-Atlantic region. "We commend the Commonwealth and Virginia Clean Cities in undertaking another innovative project to reduce air pollution."
Last Updated: October 19, 2009
Dallas County Schools in north Texas has made alternative fuels a priority. With the fifth largest school bus fleet in the country, DCS even makes its own biodiesel. Each week 400 gallons of waste vegetable oil is put through a maze of tanks, tubes, and filters and converted to biodiesel, which is then blended into B10 and B20 to fuel over 1000 buses.
In April, DCS unveiled its Fryer Flyer, a school bus with twin fuel systems, one carrying biodiesel, the other carrying biodiesel made from processed waste vegetable oil. Propane is also being used as an alternative to traditional petroleum fuels. This new propane-powered bus is one of 600 such units, with a further 100 buses due for conversion from gasoline. All of which makes Dallas County Schools a leader in providing clean and green benefits for north Texas and beyond. View the MotorWeek video of this story.
Last Updated: June 19, 2009
L.L. Bean was the first major Maine-based company to test biodiesel in its distribution fleet, and now boasts a growing fleet of heavy-duty vehicles that operate exclusively on B20, a blend of 20% biodiesel, 80% diesel. Tractor rigs move merchandise between various warehouse and store locations while shuttle buses take customers from the retail store to various Outdoor Discovery School locations operated by the company. Fuel comes from an onsite 800-gallon, skid-mounted tank installed by Frontier Energy, Maine's only full-service supplier of B100 and blended biofuels.
L.L. Bean is committed to environmental stewardship and has made the purchase of B20-capable vehicles a key part of its purchasing policy. In the past two years, the fleet has grown from 8 to 13 tractor rigs and from 8 to 17 shuttles, and now uses approximately 20,000 gallons of B20 annually. The company reports no problems with B20, even during intense winter seasons.
The company also supports other environmental outreach programs. L.L. Bean donated $1 million in 2002 to support Acadia National Park's free, propane-powered bus system as part of its support for protecting the environment. The propane buses have been so well accepted that the company made an additional $1 million donation to finance additional vehicles. L.L.Bean's financial support for Acadia underscores the company's ongoing commitment to responsible recreation, conservation, and preservation. "We hope others will join L.L.Bean in supporting America's national parks," said company CEO Chris McCormick.
While propane was not workable for L.L.Bean's own on-road fleet due to fueling logistics, the company has found that B20 fits its needs perfectly. For additional information about L.L. Bean's use of biodiesel, contact Carolyn Beem at cbeem@llbean.com cbeem@llbean.com
Last Updated: November 13, 2007
UPS placed an order for 167 CNG delivery trucks and took delivery of 139 new propane delivery trucks for its North American delivery service. In addition, the company has launched an initiative to use biodiesel fuel in its ground support vehicles at its air hub in Louisville, Ky.UPS's worldwide AFV fleet includes 1,629 vehicles, the largest such private fleet in the transportation industry. The fleet includes CNG, LNG, propane, electric, and hybrid electric vehicles. UPS already operates 800 CNG delivery trucks in the U.S. and plans to locate the new CNG vehicles in Dallas; Atlanta; Los Angeles; Ontario, Calif.; San Ramon, Calif.; and Fresno, Calif. The propane vehicles will join the nearly 600 propane trucks already operating in Canada and Mexico. "While there's a great deal of interest in the research we're doing with new types of hybrids, 70 years of testing alternative fuel vehicles has taught us there are multiple technologies that can effectively reduce our dependence on fossil fuels as well as our carbon footprint," said Robert Hall, UPS's director of vehicle engineering. "Adding this many propane and CNG vehicles is going to have a very positive impact."The propane and CNG trucks currently in the UPS fleet were converted from gasoline and diesel vehicles in the 1980s to run on alternative fuels. The new trucks are originally manufactured for alternative fuel use. The chassis for the CNG trucks are being purchased in two sizes from Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation. The trucks will feature engines from Cummins Westport that are expected to yield a 20% emissions reduction and 10% improvement in fuel economy over the cleanest diesel engines available in the market today.The new propane-powered vehicles were manufactured by Workhorse Custom Chassis and feature the latest technology in clean burning propane engines provided by Baytech Corporation. Propane vehicles emit about one-third fewer reactive organic gases than gasoline fueled vehicles. Nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide emissions also are 20% and 60% less, respectively, than conventional vehicles.The biodiesel initiative in Louisville is being funded with the support of a $515,000 federal grant that is helping to offset some of the cost of building a fuel infrastructure at the airport. The infrastructure will provide B5, a 5% biodiesel blend, to operate 366 UPS ground support vehicles starting early in 2008.
Last Updated: October 03, 2007
Porland Public Schools in Portland, Oregon, transports more than 10,000 students each year with buses traveling 3 million miles a year. During the 1980s, high gasoline prices led the district to explore alternative fuels. In 1983, as an experiment, the district converted three conventional buses to propane. Pleased with their performance, the district decided to convert the rest of its bus fleet to propane. Today, 84% of the district-owned fleet and 88% of contractor-owned buses operate on propane.
"Lower fuel costs are the key to successful operation of our propane fleet," says Phil Weber, director of student transportation for Portland Public Schools. "We buy 740,000 gallons of propane per year and that allows us to negotiate a price close to $1.20 per gallon." Ensuring a dependable supply of fuel at a competitive price is critical to the decision to use any alternative fuel. "We've found that there is a five-year payback for the capital costs of the small buses," says Weber. "The price of fuel is what makes that possible." Smaller districts and fleets that have fewer vehicles may be able to piggyback onto a large contract such as Portland's when delivery is in the same area as the larger user.
The propane-powered buses have helped the district reduce exhaust emissions and lower fuel costs. The overall performance of the propane buses is excellent, and the average life span of engines is almost twice as long as that of conventionally fueled buses. "Until recently, we have found it hard to identify conversion companies for gasoline to propane conversions. But now Bluebird has entered the market with a factory built propane-powered bus, and IMPCO has received certificatios for the 6.0 liter GM engine," Weber says.
"Fifty percent of our bus routes are for special needs children, and we use the smaller buses for those routes," Weber says. Each propane-powered small bus has a fuel economy at or just below that of an equivalent petroleum bus. All are fueled on-site from a 2,800-gallon tank truck. An onsite 1,000-gallon stationary tank is the backup fueling source.
For more information about the propane bus fleet of Portland Public Schools, contact Phil Weber at pweber@pps.k12.or.us.
Last Updated: September 21, 2007
Zion National Park in Utah, at the junction of the Colorado Plateau, the Great Basin, and the Mojave Desert, operates 30 propane (LPG) buses that provide transportation along the Zion Canyon scenic drive inside the park and along a route in the neighboring town of Springdale. The park bus route departs the Zion Canyon Visitor Center every few minutes. Approximately 81% of park visitors use the shuttle service during its operating season. According to Kirk Scott, general manager of the Zion Shuttle System, the buses are quieter and emit fewer pollutants into the environment than diesel. At an average 1,076 Btu of energy used per passenger mile, the shuttle buses are also about three times more fuel efficient than passenger cars.
The park purchases high-purity LPG at stable prices from cryogenic storage facilities at a refinery near Salt Lake City. The electronic components that control ignition in the Cummins B5.9 LPG engines seem to work best with at least 95% purity propane fuel and no propylene. Experienced professionals need to install the LPG fueling infrastructure. The park plans to continue using LPG in shuttles and to purchase more LPG buses to replace older buses and expand its fleet.
For more information, visit the Zion National Park Web site or contact Kirk Scott at parkstrans@infowest.com.
Last Updated: August 22, 2007
In 2001, the Port of Seattle Aviation Division adopted a fleet vehicle purchase policy that required the purchase of alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), whenever feasible and practical, to replace conventional petroleum vehicles. The Seattle Tacoma (Sea-Tac) International Airport's fleet is currently composed of 60 compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles, including 16 buses and 41 light-duty vehicles (LDVs)--all of which display the slogan "Doing our share for cleaner air naturally." Sea-Tac's fleet also includes seven propane LDVs, nine hybrid LDVs and 91 ground support units that operate on electricity. In 2005, the Sea-Tac Airport received the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Air Excellence Award in recognition of the implementation of air quality programs such as the fleet vehicle purchase policy.
The Port required airport taxi and shuttle services to switch to CNG vehicles. Shuttle Express currently has 27 CNG shuttle vans serving the airport. Shuttle Express operates more than 33% of its total trip mileage using the CNG vans. The Seattle-Tacoma International Taxi Association operates all of its 166 taxi cab fleet with CNG-fueled Ford Crown Victorias. The Port of Seattle's Air Quality Web site reports that the CNG fleet is expected to produce 149 fewer tons of carbon monoxide and 24 fewer tons of oxides of nitrogen each year compared to conventional vehicles.
The Port partnered with Clean Energy to install, operate, and maintain a full-service CNG fueling station at Sea-Tac, which is open to the public and operates 24 hours a day. Sea-Tac currently has plans to add an additional public CNG fueling station, as well as increase the number of CNG buses in its fleet.
For more information, contact Russ Simonson, senior environmental program manager, Port of Seattle, Aviation Division, at simonson.r@portseattle.org.