About 55,000 students in the Philadelphia area will be riding to school on more than 500 buses fueled with biodiesel starting next year.
This story in the Philadelphia Inquirer says the enironmentally-friendly fuel is being brought to buses in the Coatesville Area, Downingtown Area, Kennett Consolidated and West Chester Area School Districts thanks to help from a local organization:
The switch was made possible in large part due to the efforts of Moms for the Future, a local grassroots organization; the Energy Cooperative, a nonprofit, member-owned energy supplier; and Krapf Bus Companies. A $300,000 grant from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection didn’t hurt, either.
Diane Herrin, a West Chester mother of two, founded Moms for the Future with a few other mothers as an advocacy group. Environmental issues top the group’s docket at the moment.
Herrin explained that in addition to environmental advantages, biodiesel has economic advantages, despite a higher cost, as a domestic energy source as opposed to foreign oil.
“And what better way to show that we can have a really sustainable future than to work through our schools?” Herrin said.
The only drawback to using biodiesel is the higher cost for the green fuel. That’s where Moms for the Future, the Energy Cooperative, and Krapf Bus Service, which serves the area, came in. They helped the districts win a $300,000 state grant that will cover the extra cost for the biodiesel over the next two years.