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What seemed like the long hot summer will seem all too brief when Maryland students return to school. Students and parents will resume commuting routines that will include riding on school and transit buses and in carpools. The hustle and bustle surrounding the new school year brings increased traffic congestion, especially near schools where students get dropped off and picked up and increases the potential for children’s exposure to tailpipe exhaust from buses and cars.
Idle Threats
Diesel exhaust from idling school and transit buses can accumulate in and around the bus posing a health risk to children and the bus drivers. Diesel exhaust contains significant levels of small particles, known as fine particulate matter (PM fine) - small enough to be inhaled deeply into the lungs. PM fine air pollution is a public health concern as it can cause health problems and aggravate respiratory conditions such as asthma and bronchitis. When buses idle in or near the schoolyard, diesel exhaust can even enter the school building, especially during warmer weather when doors and windows are open. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that a typical bus can burn about one gallon of fuel per hour of idling, causing significant amounts of pollution and fuel waste.
Noxious Exhaust
Another potential health risk around the schoolyard is idling cars. Many drivers and parents keep their engines running when taking children into a school building and as they wait in their cars for children to leave school and get rides. The tailpipe exhaust from idling cars contains harmful air pollutants like nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide. These pollutants directly affect human health by causing acute bronchitis or pneumonia, and a lowered resistance to respiratory infections. Long-term exposure may cause chronic lung impairment and, because NOx is a precursor for ozone, it indirectly affects human health as well.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is a by-product of fuel combustion. When many cars are idling close together, CO can become concentrated. CO reduces the flow of oxygen in the bloodstream and is particularly dangerous to persons with heart disease.
Harmful to Kids
In general, children are more sensitive to air pollution because they breathe 50 percent more air per pound of body weight than adults. With this in mind, it is important to control and reduce emissions from vehicles. The solutions to reducing harmful emissions range from very simple voluntary actions, to costlier vehicle and fuel modifications and new technologies.
Stop Your Engines
The simplest way to reduce tailpipe emissions from idling vehicles is to turn off the engines. Idling not only produces unnecessary emissions, it wastes fuel. The reasons vary for why people allow buses and cars to idle. The most common reasons seem to be comfort and convenience. People want their vehicles to stay cool or heated while the car is stopped. Or they want listen to music or radio programs while waiting in their cars. Bus drivers may be in the habit of leaving engines idle during long waits to stay warm or to activate flashers. However, these reasons for idling should not take priority over protecting human health.
Here are some ways that schools can help turn off the key and be idle free:
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School districts can establish idling guidelines. When school bus drivers arrive to drop off or pick up passengers, they should turn off their engines as soon as possible and not restart until ready to depart.
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In cold weather, provide a space inside the school where bus drivers who arrive early can wait.
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Inform drivers of the potential health risks from breathing diesel exhaust.
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Inform the bus company of the economic benefits of reduced fuel consumption as a result of less idling. A typical school bus burns about one gallon of diesel fuel for each hour it idles. A company operating 25 buses with each bus reducing its idling time by 30 minutes per day would save thousands of dollars per year.
Older school buses emit larger amounts of pollutants during their lifespan, but can operate more cleanly when modified. Maryland Department of the Environment’s (MDE) Mobile Sources Control Program actively promotes the use of diesel retrofit technology equipment as a cost-effective way for older buses to reduce emissions.
“We discovered early on that many fleet managers were not aware of the current diesel retrofit technology,” says Lonnie Richmond of MDE’s Mobile Sources Control Program. “Another barrier to installing the equipment on older buses is the fleet owners lacked the funding to install the devices.”
MDE Takes Action
MDE's Mobile Sources Control Program began a campaign two years ago to promote awareness of available retrofit technology for school bus fleet owners and operators through workshops, presentations and networking. The program was also funded by federal grants to help local fleets purchase and install retrofit technology. One MDE project, a 400 school bus equipment retrofit project for Anne Arundel, Montgomery and Prince George's counties is now complete. These school bus retrofits will reduce student and operator exposure to several pollutants found in diesel exhaust.
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