MPCA Home > Air > Motor Vehicle Pollution > School Bus Retrofits and Idle Reduction

School Bus Retrofits and Idle Reduction

School Bus Retrofit Program School Bus Idling Resources for Schools Related Links More Information and Assistance

Toxic chemicals in diesel emissions can increase the risk of asthma, lung and heart disease, and are responsible for as many as 125,000 cancers nationwide.

Diesel fumes can be particularly harmful to children, who face heightened exposure to diesel exhaust from the self-polluting nature of buses, and the tendency of buses to idle during loading and unloading periods. Research has shown that students on school buses are exposed to 5 to 15 times the levels of particulate pollution than at nearby monitoring sites. See the Harmful Effects of Vehicle Exchaust report.

School Bus Retrofit Program

The MPCA is a major partner of Clean Air Minnesota’s Project Green Fleet (PGF), since it began in 2005. PGF works with school districts and school bus fleet operators to retrofit buses with Diesel Oxidation Catalysts (DOCs) and closed crankcase filtration systems (CCFSs).

With support from state, federal, and private sources, PGF has made tremendous progress retrofitting Minnesota’s ‘legacy’ fleet – older buses that will remain on the road for many years. Highlights of PGF’s success through 2008 include:

• Over 1,200 school buses retrofitted – that’s 30% of the legacy fleet of 4000 buses!
• Estimated lifetime emission reductions of 14 tons of particulate matter (PM), 82 tons of carbon monoxide (CO), and 163 tons of hydrocarbons (HC).
• 37 school districts and 2 Head Start Programs participating by the end of 2008.
• Map of PGF progress through the end of 2008.

School Bus Idling

In May 2002, Minnesota adopted legislation to protect the health and safety of children from harmful diesel bus emissions. This law calls for schools to reduce the unnecessary idling of school buses in front of schools, and reroute bus parking zones away from air-intake vents (or if necessary, relocate the air-intake vents). See the law on the Minnesota Department of Health Web site.

The MPCA worked with the Sierra Club and other health-based organizations to provide resources to help your school protect students from diesel emissions. There are sample letters to help explain the idling law, posters and camera-ready signs for Clean Air Zones. While the Sierra Club effort is no longer active, Project Green Fleet, through their school bus retrofit program, continues to work with participating school districts to create and adopt idle reduction policies for their bus fleets.

Schools can begin with these simple steps to minimize children's exposure to harmful diesel emissions. By adopting a no-idling policy and redesigning bus parking zones, schools can protect the health of students.

• Implement a no-idling policy. Post "no idling" signs and alert bus drivers, parents and administrators that engines should be turned off when a bus (or any vehicle) is waiting, or parked. Buses generally do not need to idle, except in cold weather.
• Redesign bus parking zones. Move bus parking area away from school air intake vents and park buses at a diagonal to avoid front-to-back passing of emissions to help reduce students' exposure to emissions.

Beyond the mandate of the law, your school can reduce students' exposure to diesel emissions by good maintenance of your current bus fleet and investment in cleaner fuels and technologies, use of biodiesel, and the purchase of newer, cleaner buses, over the long term.

Resources for Schools

Handout "No Idling: Young Lungs at Work"

• Single
• 4 on a page ("4-up")

Posters

• No Idling: Young Lungs at Work
• Turn Off Your Engine: Clean Air Zone
• No Idling: Children Breathing
• Turn Off Your Engine: Kids Breathe Here

Sample "No Idling" Policy

• Sample School Board Policy (December 2002)

Sample newsletter article

• School Idling Policy Notification: Sample Article for Parents/School Newsletters (January 2003)

Curricula and lesson plans

Although this program is no longer active, the Sierra Club North Star Student Group's Web site offers curriculum on air quality and school bus idling designed for students in grades 3-8.

Related Links

• Clean Diesel in Minnesota
• National Idling Reduction Network News
• National Idle Reduction Campaign 
• EPA’s Clean School Bus Program
• Diesel Exhaust and Children
• Project Green Fleet
  

More Information and Assistance

For more information about school bus retrofits or idle reduction, contact Stephanie Grayzeck Souter at 651-757-2749.