Twenty-two public school districts across
Kentucky will be adding 34 hybrid electric school buses to their
fleets in August 2010. Districts were awarded approximately $2.1
million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds
for the hybrid additions based on criteria ensuring all
districts a fair and equitable opportunity. Successful
applicants will receive funding to cover the difference in
purchase costs between regular diesel and hybrid buses.
The districts and number of buses they have been awarded
funding for are as follows:
A second Request for Application will be posted in
August 2010.
A $13 million grant from the U.S. Department of
Energy was awarded to the Kentucky Department of Education in late
December. The grant offsets the purchase price of the hybrid system
for 213 buses. Kentucky will have the largest hybrid electric school
bus fleet in the nation.
“The hybrid school bus project not only serves as a
means to improve efficiency and be environmentally conscious,” said
Kentucky Education Commissioner Terry Holliday. “This project will
also provide students with learning opportunities across many
subject areas. Teachers can develop lesson plans related to fuel
consumption, air quality and transportation costs, bringing
real-world knowledge and hands-on experiences into the classroom.”
The goal of the hybrid school bus project in
Kentucky is to provide real world data for a transportation sector
across the nation that has seen little improvement in engine
efficiency since the adoption of the diesel engine in the late ‘70s.
The hybrid system operates as a parallel system with a diesel
engine. Manufacturers anticipate a 30% – 40% reduction in fuel
demand. Hybrid electric systems will raise miles per gallon
from 7.5 to 12 over traditional diesel-only engines.
Performance data will be gathered by the Kentucky
Clean Fuels Coalition, a non-profit organization that submitted the
grant proposal. “Kentucky students will be interactive participants
in this project. The KCFC plans to engage the students with on site
energy teams that can use the information for science and math
classes,” said Melissa Howell, Ex Dir of the KCFC.
Growth
Energy's Market Development team is now offering funding to
retailers to assist in ethanol blender pump infrastructure.
Grants of $2,500 and $5,000 are now available on a first
come, first serve basis to vendors who wish to install new
or convert existing equipment for ethanol fueling. These
grants are in addition to any Federal or state grants or
incentives a retailer may be eligible.
