One the biggest obstacles schools have for providing field studies is the high cost and availability of flexible transportation options. LEEP has been committed to helping to overcome these challenges for the schools. We have purchased our first, 43 passenger school bus. You can see it driving around town. We use bio-diesel to fuel the bus. We purchased the bus in the summer of 2006. Several volunteers helped to sand it down. Then we had it painted in blue and green to represent the ocean and land. James Island Signs helped us to get our Logo and website on the side. Several sponsors came forward to help us with the cost of the bus like ALCOA, Noisette, and Natural Awakenings.

The bus does attract quite a bit of attention where ever it goes. It is an older school bus but in good working order. Some people have been concerned about the emissions seen coming from the tail pipe. We are using a blend of 70% bio-diesel to 30% Petroleum diesel. Even though the emissions are more visible they are far less harmful to the environment than the invisible smoke that comes from most gas engines.

Here is what you are seeing taken from www.wnbiodiesel.com/products.html

“The use of biodiesel in a conventional diesel engine results in substantial reduction of unburned hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter. Emissions of nitrogen oxides are either slightly reduced or slightly increased depending on the duty cycle of the engine and testing methods employed.

Particulate emissions from conventional diesel engines are generally divided into three components and are in varying degree responsible for the black cloud emanating from a diesel powered vehicles exhaust tail pipe.

The first component, and the one most closely related to the visible smoke often associated with diesel exhaust, is the carbonaceous material. This material is composed of sub-micron sized carbon particles which are formed during the diesel combustion process. It is especially prevalent under conditions when the fuel-air ratio is overly rich, such as full acceleration, maximum power or on start up.

The second component is hydrocarbon material which is absorbed on the carbon particles, commonly referred to as the soluble fraction. A portion of this material result from incomplete combustion of the fuel and the remainder is derived from engine lube oil that passes by the piston oil rings. The third particulate component is comprised of sulfates and bound water, with the amount of material being directly related to the fuel’s sulfur content. The US has comparably high sulfur content in most of its petrochemical diesel fuels, so diesel engine use in America is more affected by this problem than most other countries.

The use of biodiesel decreases the solid carbon fraction of particulate matter as the increased amount of oxygen present in biodiesel enables a more complete combustion process. Biodiesel eliminates the sulfate fraction problem associated with petroleum based diesel as there is no sulfur in biodiesel; sulphur dioxide is the major component of acid rain. In addition to reducing the overall levels of pollutants and carbon, the compounds that are prevalent in biodiesel and petroleum based diesel fuel exhaust are different. Research conducted by Southwest Research Institute on a Cummins N14 engine indicates that the biodiesel exhaust has a less harmful impact on human health than petroleum diesel. Biodiesel emissions have decreased the levels of all largest polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and nitrated PAH compounds were reduced by 75-85%.”

www.wnbiodiesel.com/products.html