s who are out there first thing in the morning, starting up and doing pretrips,” says Pauline Gervais, director of transportation for the Denver-area Adams Twelve Five Star Schools. Especially in colder climates, biodiesel has the potential to reduce the drivers’ exposure to unhealthful emissions of an idling petroleum diesel engine.
There are other green reasons to pursue biodiesel. Its higher flashpoint makes it safer to handle and the percentage of biodiesel that is not petroleum-based is biodegradable and a renewable resource. While most biodiesel is derived from soybean oil, it can be made of any vegetable oil, including recycled cooking oil. School buses in Clark and Washoe counties, the two largest in Nevada, are fueled by used cooking oil from casinos and fast-food restaurants.
Easy to climb aboard
While biodiesel is not the only alternative fuel that offers similar environmental advantages, fans like Biluck say the ease of implementation sets it apart.
“There’s no additional tanks, facility upgrades or dedicated vehicles,” Biluck says. “You can use it on one or two vehicles to get comfortable with it and then expand ... it’s a win-win for both the municipality and the residents of the community and state.”
A seamless transition is what sold a consortium of 12 Denver-area school districts represented by the Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) on biodiesel. The group received $400,000 of $5 million in available grant money from the EPA’s Clean School Bus USA program. They plan to use it to install diesel catalyst mufflers and to cover the incremental cost of moving to B20.
“We do have access to compressed natural gas and propane, but there’s a cost incurred making that switch,” says Gervais, a participant in the grant program. “With biodiesel, if you have a bus making a long trip, it can just pull up to a gas station and fill up with diesel.”
Differential can vary widely
The cost of biodiesel is in the fuel. Incremental differences are anywhere from 10 to 24 cents a gallon. Jenna Higgins, a spokeswoman for the National Biodiesel Board, says the price varies based on the going rate for soybean oil. Increased demand, as well as a tax incentive currently before lawmakers in Washington, D.C., should make biodiesel cheaper for all users, she says.
Another factor in the price of biodiesel is its availability. For fleets that are located some distance from fuel manufacturers or distributors, transportation costs must be factored in. Donn Dalton, fleet maintenance coordinator for Washoe County School District in Reno, Nev., says one of his primary challenges is how to get alternative fuels, including biodiesel, into northern Nevada. An increase in popularity should make the fuel both easier to come by and cheaper. That’s already happened in New Jersey, where biodiesel is on the state program, allowing it to be purchased as part of a state contract.
Efficiency is also a factor
Alternative fuel is not all about cost, however. One place where biodiesel may save fleets money is on efficiency. Thompson in Ithaca has noticed a half-mile per gallon gain in fuel economy since beginning his biodiesel program last spring. Biluck has not seen a mileage gain, but says that drivers have commented on a smoother ride. And in Littleton, Colo., there have been savings on maintenance, says Sara O’Keefe, communications manager for the RAQC.
School districts are also fueling up on biodiesel because it can be produced domestically. A concern with cutting dependence on foreign oil has encouraged some fleets to consider alternative fuels, as has the potential for biodiesel to contribute to local economies, making it especially popular in soybean-producing areas.
Says Thompson, “If all the school districts in Michigan were using B20, there wouldn’t be enough soybeans grown in the state to satisfy the market.”
Thompson is investing in biodiesel without any outside funding, but financial and strategic help is available for fleets that want to move to alternative fuels. Local air quality districts, state health, energy and agriculture departments, 