All About Alternate Fuel Vehicles (AFV)

La Porte, MI, Jan 23, 2008
Source: The News Despatch.com
http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?SectionID=1&
SubSectionID=1&ArticleID=9040&TM=60170.07

Only the Michigan City and Westville school districts have not made the switch to biodiesel fuel for at least some of their school buses.  Westville, because it’s so small, does not have its own fuel tanks. Buses fill up at a nearby truck stop, business manager Dick Cook said, adding school officials are satisfied with diesel.

Betsy Kohn, Michigan City Area Schools director of communications, said, “We considered (biodiesel) about a year ago, but decided against it. Sharon (Anderson, director of transportation) was concerned about whether the buses would start in cold weather.”  The matter was never brought before the School Board.

It may be time to have such a discussion, said Clyde Zeek, MCAS board president. He hopes to discuss biodiesel fuel at a board meeting in the near future.  “It’s definitely better for the environment,” said Zeek, who rides a motorcycle in good weather to cut his personal use of gasoline and oil. “It surely is worth discussing.”

As anyone who has been near a truck stop understands, diesel engines typically require warm-up and cool-down periods, during which the vehicles are left to idle.

Kohn said MCAS follows the policy on bus idling recommended by the Student Transpor-tation Association of Indiana and Indiana Department of Environ-mental Management. Morning warm-up times are determined by temperature, with longer idling in cold weather.  Also, Kohn said, “Drivers will turn off engines after an appropriate cool-down time upon arriving at their destinations to load or unload students.”

In addition to concern for the environment, the policy speaks directly to the safety of students and adults, Kohn said.  “Emissions from idling school buses are emitted at ground level where children may inhale them or the emissions may be drawn into the school’s ventilation system. Bus idling and bus queuing also increases the concentration of harmful particulate pollution inside the school buses.”

Rich Stalbrink, La Porte Community Schools director of transportation, said he’s happy with the performance of biodiesel, which he began to use in March 2007.  It’s important to know how to use the fuel, and Stalbrink attended seminars before the corporation made the change.  “We use a 20 percent (soybean oil) formula,” he said. Using fuel with a higher soybean content would require engine modifications, which transport some 4,000 children over 53 routes every day.

A retired Indiana State Police officer, Stalbrink says the safety and well-being of the students is his primary concern. While biodiesel is not any less expensive than diesel fuel, the advantage is that it produces fewer toxic emissions.  “You can smell the difference in the parking lot,” Stalbrink said. “You just have to observe and sniff.”

When temperatures regularly fall below 30 degrees, he said the mix has to include a higher proportion of diesel fuel. Since December, he’s been using straight diesel fuel, but expects to go back to biodiesel by March or perhaps earlier.

As for cost, he said, it depends on the price of soybeans, just as the cost of straight diesel depends on the cost of oil. Stalbrink said he tries to buy from area suppliers whenever possible. He regularly buys from Rackham Service in La Porte and from Pinkerton Oil in Chesterton, but pays close attention to price. Even a tenth of a cent makes a difference when the corporation buys about 120,000 gallons of fuel per year.

Stalbrink gave four reasons for using biodiesel fuel: “It burns cleaner, so it’s better for the environment; it makes us less dependent on foreign oil; it’s a renewable source of energy; and soybeans are grown locally and it’s always good to support our farmers.”

Although he’s never been a farmer, Stalbrink comes from a farming family and has cousins who still farm in Starke County.  Lloyd Wood, transportation director for New Prairie United School Corp., said he uses fuel known as B-5, which is just 5 percent soybean oil. While that fuel often costs a bit more than diesel, he said, “mileage is better.”  Getting better mileage in a school bus might mean improving from 7 to 7 1/2 miles per gallon to perhaps 8 or 8 1/2 miles per gallon.

Norm Kleist, superintendent of the La Porte County Township Schools, which covers Dewey and Prairie townships, was not available for comment, but another spokesperson said at least some of the buses that transport students to and from the district are using biodiesel.  South Central School Corp. is using biodiesel as well.