ANALYSIS For Consideration of Natural Gas In March, the Kansas City (Kan.) Public School By Richard Kolodziej
District introduced 47 new CNG-powered, rear- engine Tomas Built school buses with a parade through town. About 500 people turned out for the event, riding the school buses and touring the district’s new time-fill station. Kansas City is not alone. Many school dis-
tricts continue to be proud of their decision to improve the quality of the air for their students and the surrounding communities while choos- ing domestically produced natural gas. Tight budgets are a reality at school districts
around the country, and in many instances savvy districts make the switch to natural gas with the help of grants and other assistance, as in the case with Kansas City. While natural gas buses save big on fuel costs, the buses cost more to purchase, so grants help shorten the payback time. Te dis- tricts often work with Clean Cities coordinators, since coordinators are committed to promoting
alternative fuel vehicles and are often the first to know about grant opportunities. So why is natural gas still the right choice in the
face of new diesel, hybrids and, yes, electric buses? Te one thing fleet administrators can rely on
is that, with today’s engines, natural gas is a reli- able transportation fuel. School districts such as Los Angeles, which with 400 CNG buses is the largest natural gas school bus fleet in the coun- try, talk confidently about the reliability of the engines that power their buses. Two major U.S. school bus manufacturers, Tomas and Blue Bird, both offer factory-built natural gas models. You’ve heard the forecasts: the U.S. has more
than a 100 year’s supply of natural gas, using today’s technology. So says the Potential Gas Committee and the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Te game changer has been the new shale gas plays, which now account for about 20 percent of all U.S. natural gas production. Almost all of the
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