Idling Fumes

Please, if you feel as strongly about this as we do, make a difference! Write to your congressman.

Sources:

http://www.nett.ca/faq/diesel-1.html

 http://www.trucktrend.com/features/tech/163_0210_diesel_vs_gas/index.html

 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/25/AR2010012500970.html

 http://www.nmenv.state.nm.us/aqb/ghg/documents/IdlingMythsandFacts.pdf

 http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/latest/5289

 http://www.anr.state.vt.us/air/mobilesources/htm/Diesel.htm

If you want to calculate the fuel and money wasted for your school, go to:
http://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/idle_fuel_calc.htm

Our high school's facts:
We waste 1200 gal/years on idling alone.
That's about $4000!
It also converts to about 24,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. That's using a conversion rate of about 20 lbs carbon dioxide per one gallon diesel--feel free to apply it to your school to find out its carbon dioxide emissions!

Retrofit diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs) for school buses cost approximately $1,000-$2,000. This means that with the money we would save in one year of reduced idling, our school could buy two to four of these filters for our buses.
On each bus equipped with a filter, this would:
 - reduce particulate matter emissions by 20%.
 - reduce hydrocarbon emissions by 50%.
 - reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 40%.
These filters can last up to 15 years!

While idling does help keep buses warm in winter, we shot a clip of buses idling with their doors open before school had even ended. Not only is this nullifying the warmth of running the engine, it's also letting these toxic fumes accumulate on the bus.
Thus, idling costs money, hurts the environment, and harms the people who drive or ride buses. The decision is easy: stop idling! This is an easy step to take that makes a big difference.

States that have already passed some form of anti-idling regulation:
Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.
...Where's Michigan?

*Note: while running a bus or two on vegetable oil is a green and cheap way to transport kids, it's currently violating the EPA's Clean Air Act of 1990. It's not that vegetable oil is dirtier: it just hasn't been tested for all engines yet.