One after another, Arlington ISD school buses are being replaced, and the result means cleaner air, healthier kids, newer buses and, in the end, a significant cost savings.
Slowly but steadily, AISD is sending its older, diesel-powered buses to the trash heap - a dozen have made the journey so far this fall alone. In their place: vehicles with alternative fuel. Nearly 100 of the district's 224 buses are now propane-powered, which are considered to be safer, quieter, and cheaper to operate - not to mention healthier for its passengers.
AISD is the only school district in North Texas to receive a $930,000 Emission Reduction Incentive Grant to buy these propane buses, or hybrids, that are part of a comprehensive state program designed to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions of diesel exhaust by retrofitting older school buses. The district has received more than $1 million in grants for buses in the past five years.
The Texas Education Agency reports that more than 33 percent of school buses in local fleets are older than 10 years. AISD is taking advantage of the advancements in vehicle and engine technology that helps reduce emissions from school buses, helping reduce overall air pollution. (Children standing near a school bus are equally impacted because they are breathing in the fumes.)
According to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Arlington was one of a number of Texas school districts with buses running on diesel fuel that emit tons of unhealthy pollution that get trapped inside buses where children breathe it in. The agency says these older bus engines spew toxic substances and smog-forming emissions, and children, who breathe in more air per pound of body weight than adults, are at an even greater health risk.
The new buses are much cleaner than the polluting models and in the long run can offset any additional expense. Propane-powered buses cost more than traditional diesel-powered vehicles and provide slightly lower fuel economy, but the average fuel cost is almost 50 percent less than gasoline. Overall performance of the propane fleet buses is better when compared with that of conventional fuel fleet buses in terms of overall engine life span.
And that's not the only a cost savings AISD has in mind. Once the district shows that the new buses have resulted in a 25 percent reduction of emissions by the end of 2009's five-year bond program, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality will reimburse the district for 12 of the buses already replaced.
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