400 miles , and can continue to operate even if the electric grid is down .
“ School districts see the value propane autogas buses can bring to their students , to their community , and to the environment ,” said David Walters , director of autogas business development for the Propane Education & Research Council . “ With the lowest total cost-of-ownership , reduced emissions , and improved uptime , it ’ s clear that propane autogas buses are an excellent choice . We applaud the districts that have made the decision to prioritize student health and the environment with their new propane autogas buses , and we hope others will follow their lead .”
Through three rounds of funding , the EPA program has allocated more than $ 2.8 billion for 8,427 electric school buses and 440 low-emissions propane buses . However , for the same amount of money that was distributed for the electric buses ( about $ 2.77 billion ), the program could have helped fund as many as 92,635 propane buses , assuming each propane bus received the $ 30,000 incentive .
When considering full lifecycle emissions , replacing 92,635 diesel buses with propane buses would have reduced harmful nitrogen oxide ( NOx ) emissions by 24,664 metric tons over the three years the program has funded buses . By comparison , replacing just 8,427 diesel buses with electric buses will reduce NOx emissions by just 2,379 metric tons over the three years .
“ The goal of the program is to reduce emissions as quickly as possible to provide our children with a safe , clean , healthy ride to school ,” Walters said . “ According to the Department of Energy , there are more than 450,000 school buses in the United States , and the vast majority run on diesel . By replacing dirty diesel buses with clean propane autogas buses , we can better ensure that more children are riding in a clean school bus .”
For more information on propane solutions for school transportation , visit BetterOurBuses . com .
The Propane Education & Research
Council is a nonprofit that provides propane safety and training programs and invests in research and development of new propane-powered technologies . PERC is operated and funded by the propane industry . For more information , visit Propane . com . l FON
John Hawkins , CEO of H & H Sales Co ., Huntertown , Indiana .
www . fueloilnews . com | FUEL OIL NEWS | SEPTEMBER 2024 13