Students at Williamsfield High School soon may be producing fuel for district vehicles.
In January 2007, agriculture teacher Kent Rigg's class was one of several Illinois schools to host a traveling biodiesel lab courtesy of the University of Illinois. During the three weeks the lab was in the school's shop, students learned a few different skills.
When some students discovered that one of the byproducts of creating biodiesel was glycerin, they decided to experiment and see if they could make soap. After many tries, the students created a brick of usable soap, but one that didn't look or smell particularly pretty.
After the short time students worked with the biodiesel lab, Rigg decided to appeal to the Williamsfield District 210 Board of Education for funding to build a permanent biodiesel lab at the high school. The funding was approved in February.
In creating biodiesel, a vegetable oil — either used or virgin — is combined with a caustic mixture of methanol and lye. The solution is heated, filtered and processed for about two days before it can be used in nearly all diesel engines, with few or no alterations.
Rigg says he hopes to have the lab up and running by next fall, with the added bonus of being able to run at least one district vehicle off the fuel his students create.
The system costs about $2,000 to build and biodiesel costs about $1 per gallon to make, a great deal less expensive than if the district were to buy diesel fuel to power its vehicles from a fuel supplier.
School Bus information from Biodiesel.org on school bus fleets using biofuel
School Buses
"We are a school bus fleet. We have 32 buses, and we have used about 80,000 gallons of B20 in the last year. We decided to make the switch to biodiesel because we were worried about the health of our students, staff and the public from breathing diesel exhaust. Everyone in our school district now breathes easier now that we are running B20."
Wayne Hettler, St. Johns, MI |
School buses are one of the largest mass transit programs in the United States. Every school day, some 440,000 yellow school buses transport more than 24 million children to and from schools and school-related activities. At the current time, the vast majority of the school buses are powered by heavy-duty diesel engines and consume conventional #2 diesel fuel (although a small share of school bus engines now in use are designed for gasoline).
Anyone who has ever had to sit in traffic behind a diesel-fueled bus will understand concerns about children who ride buses to and from school each day. Pollution from diesel vehicles has health implications for everyone, especially children. The use of biodiesel can reduce that threat. Because it works in any diesel engine with few or no 
modifications, biodiesel offers schools a relatively inexpensive option for an immediate solution to air quality concerns. As a result, several thousand school buses in the US are running on blends of biodiesel and reporting success:
Medford, New Jersey School District
Medford, New Jersey School District began using B20 in in 1997. According to Joe Biluck, Director of Operations and Technology, the fuel has performed well even in temperatures as low as eleven degrees below zero.
"Biodiesel offers the best option to increase our reliance on domestic, renewable fuels while producing significant results in terms of emission reduction," said Biluck. "Biodiesel's primary attraction is its ease of integration coupled with the fact it is a technology that is not capital intensive and can be applied to older units as well as today's vehicles."
Olympia, Illinois School District
Olympia, Illinois School District began using a B2 blend in August 2002 in all 33 of its school buses and about 20 operation and maintenance support vehicles such as lawnmowers, pickup trucks and tractors. The 377 square mile school district is the second largest school district in the state after Cook County outside Chicago. The buses travel 4,000 miles a day, or an average of 600,000 miles a year.
"We're thrilled to be using biodiesel - a fuel that can be used in all our diesel vehicles with no engine modifications," said Trent Keller, Transportation Director for the Olympia School District. "because of the size of our district and the fact that our bus engines run 200,000 miles before they are traded in, performance and safety are very important to us. Our buses have been running beautifully with biodiesel."
Clark County, Nevada School District
On May 22, 2003 Frank Giordano, Coordinator of Vehicle Maintenance for the Clark County School District, accepted a National Partners Award from the US Department of Energy. The award was given to Giordano for the district's use of biodiesel in more than 1,200 school buses operating in Clark County, Nevada.
Arlington County, Virginia School District
Last year, Arlington County, Virginia began using B20 in the county's 500 diesel-powered vehicles, including 120 school buses, according to Ric Hiller, chief of the equipment division. "We started using biodiesel in our school buses because we saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: clean the air and use a renewable fuel," said Hiller. "We're very pleased with biodiesel so far."
Biodiesel is a homegrown solution to the problem of dirty school buses and its widespread use could immediately benefit the health of children, while at the same time helping to protect the environment, boost domestic energy security, increase farm income, and create jobs. The schools districts across the country that are already using biodiesel are true leaders and should serve as examples for others.
July 18, 2004 News Article: Three Arkansas School Districts Pleased with Alternative Fuels
Use of a biodiesel fuel blend in 149 school buses operated by the three districts in Pulaski County has worked out well, officials say. The districts participated last year - and plan to do so again in the upcoming school year - in a pilot program that reimburses them for the extra costs of using a blend of fossil fuel and vegetable oil. Use of the fuel is intended to reduce reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels. The biodiesel mix used last year by the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County districts is a blend of 80 percent standard diesel fuel and 20 percent soy-based oil. It costs about 20 cents more per gallon than regular diesel fuel.
But some of that extra cost was offset in a surprising way, said Mike Martello, transportation director for the Little Rock district. "We noticed something that we didn't think was going to happen," Martello said. "We actually got a little bit better fuel economy on the biodiesel than we did with the regular." Martello said his operation had no problems using the biodiesel fuel. "It makes us less dependent on foreign oil, obviously," he said. The Little Rock district used the blend this year in 103 magnet-school buses, more than a third of its fleet. "The only disadvantage I can think of is the cost," Martello said. "But as long as we are reimbursed for the increase in the cost it is tremendous advantage, I think, to the school districts to be able to use the fuel."
Reimbursement came from the Arkansas Energy Office, a division of the state Economic Development Department. The rebates are available to help other Arkansas school districts offet the costs of experimenting with the fuel, according to Energy Office director Chris Benson. Gov. Mike Huckabee says he hopes other districts will take advantage of the program.
"It shows the state's support for our agricultural economy, air quality, and smart use of energy resources," Huckabee said.
School Buses Clean Up With Biodiesel - Cutting Health Risks With Less-Polluting Fuel
Students in the Central Valley School District in Eastern Washington and Northshore School District in the Puget Sound region will be among the first in the state to ride in buses operating on biodiesel fuel. The initiatives are part of a statewide program to reduce air pollution and health risks by operating school buses on cleaner-burning fuels.
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Central Valley School District kicked off its
biodiesel program in November 2003
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The school bus biodiesel pilot project was established by the legislature during the 2003 legislative session. House Bill 1243, sponsored by Representative Brian Sullivan (D-21) establishes a pilot program to introduce biodiesel into school district fleets. The Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition and the Spokane County Conservation District were instrumental in creating and lobbying for the passage of the legislation.
Diesel emissions are under increasing scrutiny as a smog contributor and a risk to public health. Carcinogens in the exhaust are harmful, and parents and politicians worry about schoolchildren inhaling too much exhaust. Children breathe more air relative to their body weight than adults, and their lung systems are not fully developed, making them more sensitive to pollutants in diesel exhaust. Recent studies show diesel exhaust contributes as much as 70 percent of the cancer risk from toxic air pollution in urban areas.
Biodiesel is a clean-burning, non-toxic, non-petroleum fuel that is produced from any vegetable oil or animal fat. Biodiesel can be substituted for or blended with petroleum diesel, dramatically reducing air pollution. Biodiesel is recognized as a certified alternative fuel by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Department of Energy.
Central Valley and Northshore volunteered to take part in the pilot project and will be using a blend of 20 percent biodiesel and 80 percent ultra-low-sulfur diesel.
"We are pleased to have supported such an innovative project that enhances air quality while reducing school bus emissions," said Mike Pearson, Central Valley interim superintendent. "In the final analysis, it will be our children who reap the benefits."
Baker Commodities, a nationwide rendering company that also produces biodiesel, donated the first 800 gallons of biodiesel to the Central Valley School District. The company is currently doing market research and feasibility studies for the development biodiesel production facilities in Washington state. The Seattle and Spokane regions have been identified as possible plant locations.
In addition to these biodiesel pilot programs, numerous school districts throughout the state are using an ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel and retrofitting the exhaust systems of buses to reduce emissions. The school bus retrofit projects are part of a statewide effort known as the Washington State Clean School Bus Program. The state legislature passed a bill this year to pay for the program, the largest state-funded, voluntary school bus retrofit program in the country. The legislature provided approximately $5 million statewide for the current fiscal year (which ends next June 30), primarily to begin installing emission controls on existing diesel school buses. Lawmakers committed to continuing that level of funding for five years to reach approximately 5,000 of more than 9,000 school buses in the state.
The Washington State Clean School Bus Program is also providing some funding for the biodiesel pilot program.
The clean school bus projects are the result of the combined efforts of: the Puget Sound Clean Cities Coalition (Clean Cities)); Spokane County Conservation District (SCCD); Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology); Spokane County Air Pollution Control Authority (SCAPCA); and the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA).
Contact:
Clean Cities 206-684-0935
Jim Armstrong, SCCD 509-535-7274
Jani Gilbert, Ecology 509-329-3495
Eric Skelton, SCAPCA 509-477-4727, x 121
David Kircher, PSCAA 206-689-4050
Gene Marsh, Central Valley School District, 509-228-5496
This story found at http://www.sccd.org