Roughly 25 million children ride school buses every year. And though only about 1% of 480,000 U.S. school buses are electric, there are signs the push to abandon diesel buses is gaining momentum.
A diesel-powered school bus is reflected in a mirror at MAST Academy, Wednesday, Sept. 29, 2021, in Miami. Student Holly Thorpe, 14, urged the Miami-Dade County Public Schools to considering replacing foul-smelling diesel school buses with electric vehicles. The school board voted this week to use a state grant to purchase up to 50 electric buses. Miami-Dade is joining a growing number of school districts transitioning from diesel to more environmentally-friendly electric school buses.
Thorpe is overjoyed the district is making the switch. “It wasn't imaginary any more,” she said. “It just wasn’t like an idea. It was coming to life.” — Late last year, the World Resources Institute announced a $37.5 million Bezos Earth Fund grant to help electrify all school buses in the country by 2030. The nonprofit will work over the next five years on the project with school districts, communities, environmental justice groups, utilities, bus manufacturers and policymakers.
“This is an opportunity to make sure that we are doing all we can to protect kids health,” said California Energy Commission member Patty Monahan. “Some of these kids in parts of Los Angeles are on the bus for an hour, two hours a day. So we want to make sure that they are breathing clean air.
A study of school buses in Washington state found using cleaner fuels or upgrading older diesel reduced children's exposure to airborne particles by as much as 50% and improved their health. Their findings suggest a nationwide switch to cleaner school buses could result in around 14 million fewer absences each year. The researchers at the universities of Washington and Michigan did not examine electric buses, which produce less local pollution than those using fossil fuels.
With the improved standards, the diesel industry argues that switching to electric won’t significantly reduce emissions or address concerns about global warming — especially since electricity for buses still often comes from fossil fuels. They note that more than 54% of school buses are newer models with far fewer emissions.
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