Propane Buses Get an A+

Propane School Buses: A Healthy and Budget-Friendly Clean Energy Option

In the most recently available data, the National Center for Education Statistics reports that more than 25 million children ride school buses every year. What if you could get these students to school, promote their health, and protect the planet while saving money? Would you do it? From Colorado to Georgia, school districts have done the research and the math and said yes to using propane, a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency-designated clean alternative fuel, to power their buses. 

Improve Student Health and Performance

Reducing NOx is critical because students’ exposures to emissions can aggravate asthma and cause other health issues. A study by researchers at West Virginia University determined that propane buses produce 13% fewer GHG emissions over gasoline or diesel buses. And the low carbon, clean nature of propane gives it the ability to fuel buses with dramatically reduced NOx emissions. Propane-powered school buses reduce tailpipe NOx emissions by 96% over clean diesel buses. 

Dr. Daniel Kreisman, Assistant Professor of Economics at Georgia State University, and his co-authors found that cleaner propane buses reduced exposure to the particulate matter in diesel exhaust, which means improved student respiratory health and better academic performance. The Georgia State study links school districts with retrofitted propane buses to the students’ aggregated health data and standardized-test scores. Based on the results, they estimate that reducing student emissions exposures for a school district’s entire fleet could lead to a 7.8% gain in English test scores. 

Today, about one million students in more than 900 school districts across the nation benefit from riding to school in propane school buses each day.

Reduce Overall Operating Costs

A new propane bus costs a third of the price of new electric buses, allowing districts to purchase more vehicles within budget. The West Virginia University study also found that it costs 30% – 50% less to operate propane buses per mile than diesel buses because of easy maintenance and better reliability. Healthier kids + healthier planet + saving money = the new math!

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