The wheels on the Athens City Schools' yellow buses go round and round — and are producing lower emissions than ever before, thanks to clean-diesel technology.
Ohio school buses, fire trucks, construction vehicles and other diesel-powered vehicles have been using ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel since 2006. The lower emissions from the “clean” diesel are paying off, according to a news release from the Diesel Technology Forum.
The forum is a nonprofit educational organization based out of Washington, D.C., working to raise awareness of the economic importance of diesel engines.
“Diesel fuel is 20 to 40 percent more efficient than gasoline, so drivers get better fuel efficiency and higher miles per gallon with diesel,” said Steve Hansen, spokesperson for the Diesel Technology Forum.
When the Environmental Protection Agency realized that diesel exhaust had potentially negative health effects on humans, they put a requirement on oil refiners to make cleaner fuel, said Carolyn Watkins, chief officer of the Ohio EPA Office of Environmental Education. She added that this is how the ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel was created.
“Emissions from today’s diesel trucks and buses are near zero thanks to more efficient engines, more effective emissions-control technology and the nationwide availability of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel,” Hansen said.
Sulfur hinders the exhaust-control mechanisms of diesel engines, similarly to how lead impedes the catalytic converters of gasoline cars, Hansen said.
“Just as taking the lead out of gasoline in the 1970s enabled a new generation of emissions-control technologies that have made gasoline vehicles more than 95 percent cleaner, so will removing the sulfur from diesel help usher in a new generation of clean diesel technology,” Hansen said.
The ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel became mandatory in Dec. 2010 and has resulted in a 97 percent reduction in sulfur emissions, Hansen said.
In 2006, the Ohio EPA started the Clean Diesel School Bus Fund Retrofit Grants Program, which offers grants up to $300,000 to retrofit diesel school buses with pollution-control equipment and idle-reduction equipment, Watkins said.
Since 2006, 2,337 school buses have been retrofitted to run on the ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel at 129 school districts and developmental disabilities programs, according to the Ohio EPA website.
While older buses need to be retrofitted to be able to run on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, newer buses are made to run on the new diesel, Watkins said.
Athens City Schools have not received any funds from the Ohio EPA grant program, but new buses are bought annually and none are more than 10 years old, said Sharon Ervin, director of Transportation Services for the Athens City Schools.
Perhaps more relevant to the area is the use of diesel fuel in agriculture.
Ohio saw $3.7 billion worth of agricultural products produced in 2007, the 13th highest in the country, Hansen said. He added that diesel engines power more than two thirds of all farm equipment in the U.S.
Hansen said the number of clean-diesel vehicles on the market in the U.S. is expected to double in the next 18 months, adding that clean diesel is “one of the major environmental accomplishments of the century.”
ls114509@ohiou.edu
