Gov. Gary R. Herbert proclaimed September as “Idle Free Awareness Month,” and the state’s fleet of school buses are taking center stage as the poster child.
In his proclamation, Herbert noted that nationally school buses travel 4 billion miles each year while transporting more than 26 million students. Nearly 3,000 of those buses operate in Utah, which three years ago implemented a statewide school bus idling reduction program. The Utah Clean Cities Coalition says that a single vehicle dropping off and picking up children at school emits three pounds of pollution each month.
September is the third consecutive year the state has celebrated Idle Free Awareness Month. It is supported by 40 mayors across the state.
The Environmental and Energy Study Institute in Washington, D.C., along with the Utah State Office of Education developed curriculum for school bus drivers to reduce idling, and the program as implemented in the state has limited idling by up to 100 fewer hours per bus per year. Fuel savings have also been more than 100 gallons per bus per year while pollution has been reduced by 20 percent. Greenhouse gases are also down by 5 to 10 percent.
Murrell Martin, the pupil transportation specialist with the Utah State Office of Education, said those savings equate to 276,000 gallons of fuel and $700,000 for school districts since the program began. An estimated 15 tons of particulate matter have also been reduced
“The success of the program has been used a model for other states and has been presented at three national conference of significant importance during the past year,” he added.
The Environmental Protection Agency National Clean Diesel 10 Conference in Washington, D.C., presented data from the program during a video conference last October, and NASDTPS followed on Nov. 1 with a formal presenation during the association’s annual conference held in Portland, Ore. The U.S. Department of Energy Clean Cities also presented the program during a summit this past June in Indianapolis.
He said the Department of Energy has identified that $5,000 of the original grant be used to forward the curriculum and resources to other states.
Meanwhile, the Utah Retrofitting and Replacing of School Buses Project has funded projects for more than 1,200 school buses for a reduction of nearly 310 tons of particulate matter, 855 tons of hydrocarbons and 4,700 tons of carbon monoxide over the life of the fleet. The funds have also helped replace another 27 school buses, which will reduce about 85- tons of nitrogen oxide, 34 tons of particulate matter, 44 tons of hydrocarbons and 285 tons of carbon monoxide over the life cycle.
