photo Biodiesel.org

School buses are largest mass transit programs in the United States. Every school day, 440,000 yellow school buses transport more than 24 million children to and from schools and activities. The vast majority of the school buses are powered by diesel engines. Pollution from diesel vehicles has health implications for everyone, especially children. The use of biodiesel can reduce that threat. Biodiesel works in any diesel engine with few or no modifications and offers schools a relatively inexpensive option for an immediate solution to air quality concerns. Read how school districts across the US are running on blends of biodiesel.

West Chester Area School District 
Starting in the new year, students across Chester County may notice a difference in what's coming out of the exhaust pipes of their school buses. The smoke will look a little cleaner, and the acrid diesel smell will be replaced by a more pleasant odor, like French fries. Beginning in 2008, buses for the Coatesville Area, Downingtown Area, Kennett Consolidated and West Chester Area School Districts and the Chester County Intermediate Unit will no longer run on diesel gas. Instead, it will be replaced by environmentally friendly biodiesel. The switch was made possible in large part due to the efforts of Moms for the Future , a local grassroots organization; the Energy Cooperative, a nonprofit, member-owned energy supplier; and Krapf Bus Companies. A $300,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection didn't hurt, either. For more information go to the Philadelphia Enquirer Article, Dec 13, 2007

Chicago City Schools
September 2007, John Benish Jr., CEO of Cook-Illinois Corp, began operating its 1800 buses in Chicago and the suburbs on a B20 (20% biodiesel 80% Diesel). "It cuts down on harmful emissions by over 50 percent, so any of the children on the inside of the buses as well as the outside of the buses, loading and unloading of the buses, emissions are cut down drastically," said John.  "It will help students with asthma. They'll have a healthier recess, a healthier ride," said Matthew Ditto, principal of Andrew Jackson Language Academy that Cook-Illinois Corp. serves.

View the ABC7 video about their switch to Biodiesel. 4min video
And check out the Clean Air Club for kids to learn more about air quality. 

Ozark City Schools
July 2006, Howard Harrison decided to run six of the Ozark City Schools’ 37 buses on biodiesel fuel. Harrison, transportation director for the city schools, wanted to see if the buses could operate on the more environmentally friendly fuel. Harrison’s experiment has been successful. The buses Harrison fueled with B-20 – a fuel mixture that is 80 percent diesel, 20 percent Biodiesel – reported little or no increased need for maintenance and slightly better gas mileage than buses fueled with diesel. Now Harrison is expanding the program. For the upcoming school year, 13 Ozark City school buses will use biodiesel fuel. Harrison said the larger pool of buses will allow him to conduct a more thorough investigation of fuel economy and maintenance issues concerning biodiesel use in the system’s buses.
Harrison said if the experiment continues to be successful, that is if the use of biodiesel does not prove to be prohibitively expensive and does not adversely impact the system’s buses, he hopes other local school systems and government agencies will jump on the bandwagon. - Dothan Eagle News Dothan, Alabama, July 19, 2007

Asheville, Asheville City Schools
The city is looking to reduce emissions and use of fossil fuels by switching to alternative fuels.
City vehicles as well as partner agencies, such as Asheville City Schools and the Asheville ABC Board and Asheville transit buses have switched to biodiesel and ethanol blends, a press release from the city said. Based on software developed by the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), the city’s use of the new fuels will result in a 7.2 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions, the release said. The change is projected to achieve an annual reduction of 525 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. - Citizen Times , Asheville, NC July 29

Medford, New Jersey School District
Medford, New Jersey School district began using B20 in in 1997. According to Joe Biluck, Director of Operations and Technology, the fuel has performed well even in temperatures as low as eleven degrees below zero.

"Biodiesel offers the best option to increase our reliance on domestic, renewable fuels while producing significant results in terms of emission reduction," said Biluck. "Biodiesel's primary attraction is its ease of integration coupled with the fact it is a technology that is not capital intensive and can be applied to older units as well as today's vehicles."

Olympia, Illinois School District
Olympia, Illinois School District began using a B2 blend in August 2002 in all 33 of its school buses and about 20 operation and maintenance support vehicles such as lawnmowers, pickup trucks and tractors. The 377 square mile school district is the second largest school district in the state after Cook County outside Chicago. The buses travel 4,000 miles a day, or an average of 600,000 miles a year.

"We're thrilled to be using biodiesel - a fuel that can be used in all our diesel vehicles with no engine modifications," said Trent Keller, Transportation Director for the Olympia School District. "because of the size of our district and the fact that our bus engines run 200,000 miles before they are traded in, performance and safety are very important to us. Our buses have been running beautifully with biodiesel."

Clark County, Nevada School District
On May 22, 2003 Frank Giordano, Coordinator of Vehicle Maintenance for the Clark County School District accepted a National Partners Award from the US Department of Energy. The award was given to Giordano for the district's use of biodiesel in more than 1,200 school buses operating in Clark County, Nevada.

Arlington County, Virginia School District
Last year, Arlington County, Virginia began using B20 in the county's 500 diesel-powered vehicles, including 120 school buses, according to Ric Hiller, chief of the equipment division. "We started using biodiesel in our school buses because we saw an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone: clean the air and use a renewable fuel," said Hiller. "We're very pleased with biodiesel so far."

Biodiesel is a homegrown solution to the problem of dirty school buses and its widespread use could immediately benefit the health of children, while at the same time helping to protect the environment, boost domestic energy security, increase farm income, and create jobs. The schools districts across the country that are already using biodiesel are true leaders and should serve as examples for others.

Three Arkansas School Districts Pleased with Alternative Fuels - July 18, 2004 News Article
Use of a biodiesel fuel blend in 149 school buses operated by the three districts in Pulaski County has worked out well, officials say. The districts participated last year - and plan to do so again in the upcoming school year - in a pilot program that reimburses them for the extra costs of using a blend of fossil fuel and vegetable oil. Use of the fuel is intended to reduce reliance on non-renewable fossil fuels. The biodiesel mix used last year by the Little Rock, North Little Rock and Pulaski County districts is a blend of 80 percent standard diesel fuel and 20 percent soy-based oil. It costs about 20 cents more per gallon than regular diesel fuel.

But some of that extra cost was offset in a surprising way, said Mike Martello, transportation director for the Little Rock district. "We noticed something that we didn't think was going to happen," Martello said. "We actually got a little bit better fuel economy on the biodiesel than we did with the regular." Martello said his operation had no problems using the biodiesel fuel. "It makes us less dependent on foreign oil, obviously," he said. The Little Rock district used the blend this year in 103 magnet-school buses, more than a third of its fleet. "The only disadvantage I can think of is the cost," Martello said. "But as long as we are reimbursed for the increase in the cost it is tremendous advantage, I think, to the school districts to be able to use the fuel."

Reimbursement came from the Arkansas Energy Office, a division of the state Economic Development Department. The rebates are available to help other Arkansas school districts offet the costs of experimenting with the fuel, according to Energy Office director Chris Benson. Gov. Mike Huckabee says he hopes other districts will take advantage of the program.