Why You Should Make the Switch
SAVE THE PLANET!
SAVE LIVES!
SAVE MONEY!
Save the Planet!
Switching Has an Enormous Positive Environmental Impact:
Diesel exhaust pollutants contribute to climate change, ozone pollution, and acid rain.
-
Climate change negatively affects air and water quality, weather patterns, sea levels, ecosystems, and agriculture.
-
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions addresses climate change, improves our nation's energy security, and strengthens our economy.
-
Carbon dioxide emissions are dramatically lower for electric buses, even using today’s mix of fossil fuel-generated power from utilities. It will be even lower as the grid transitions to more renewable sources like wind and solar to power electric buses.
-
Electric buses help limit global warming emissions, as defined by the Union of Concerned Scientists, by as much as 8 times compared to diesel buses in miles per gallon emissions.
-
Ground-level ozone emissions from diesel engines cause damage to crops, trees, and other vegetation.
-
Acid rain is one of the leading causes of deforestation, harms soil and tree development, and contributes to rising animal extinction rates.
-
Academic research shows the link between diesel exhaust and damage to students health and scholastic achievement.
Save Lives!
Diesel pollution harms the health of our entire community
-
Diesel exhaust pollutants have been designated “carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC).
-
They contain significant levels of particulate matter (PM).
-
These particles can lodge deep into the lungs and heart and are linked to premature death, aggravated asthma, and decreased lung function.
-
Effect of poor air quality on children:
-
Children are more susceptible to damage from PM than healthy adults because their respiratory systems are still developing and they have faster breathing rates.
-
Inhaling too much particulate matter can lead to more severe developmental-related health issues in younger age groups.
Adults are also badly harmed by diesel pollution:
-
According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, adult exposure to diesel pollution contributes to:
-
27,000 heart attacks
-
14,500 hospitalizations
-
2.4 million lost workdays each year.
-
Save Money!
By partnering with innovative companies and by benefitting from widely available grants, your school can save money compared to using diesel buses and can even get free or deeply discounted electric buses to replace your diesel ones
The economics of the switch- How it all works:
-
School buses have predictable schedules and sit idly during the hours of higher energy demand, such as 6-9 PM, and during summer air conditioning season. In fact, some studies show that the average school bus is not in use 95% of the time.
-
Companies that offer Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) technology to schools optimize bus charging through “bidirectional charging”, allowing for the buses to charge their batteries during off-peak energy demand hours and to store unused energy to resell back to the grid at hours of peak demand. Reselling power back to the grid for a higher price than purchased generates income and reduces the school’s cost of owning an electric school bus. Click here to learn more about V2G charging and the economics of buying an electric bus.
-
There are many extremely generous grant opportunities currently available from local, state, and federal agencies that aim to incentivize schools to make the switch to electric buses. Click here for more information about grant opportunities that can fund your transition.
-
Electric buses are estimated to cost 17 cents per mile in fuel and operating costs versus 87 cents per mile for a diesel bus. Most school buses last 100-125k miles, so the lifetime operating cost savings alone are ~$70-$90k
