Articles / Riding to School on Sunshine in Oconomowoc, WI

Credit: Oconomowoc Transport Co.

The 11 new school buses in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin don’t look particularly special. They’re painted the same yellow, carry the same kids and travel the same routes as the buses they replaced. Yet the new buses, which comprise 25% of Oconomowoc’s total school bus fleet, are quietly making history. They’re the largest group of hybrid-electric school buses in the United States, and they recharge using on-site solar power.

 

While delivering the same transportation service to the community, the hybrid buses will decrease petroleum use, cut carbon emissions and reduce children’s exposure to dangerous diesel exhaust.

As hybrids, the Oconomowoc buses have both solar-powered batteries and internal combustion engines that run on diesel. So while they still use diesel fuel, they use a whole lot less. “The reduction in petroleum use will be dramatic,” said Mark O’Connell, Technical Coordinator of the Wisconsin Clean Transportation Program.

The solar-powered hybrids are 50% more fuel-efficient than traditional school bus models. That translates into a 30-40% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions per bus and 7,500 gallons of annual petroleum savings for the district; at $3 a gallon, equivalent to $25,000.

Funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), facilitated by the Wisconsin Clean Transportation Program, offset the extra cost of the hybrid technology. Thanks to a government grant of $3.6 million, the Oconomowoc Transport Company (OTC) paid no more for the buses than it would have done for 11 new diesel models.

An array of solar panels, installed on the canopy in the bus parking lot, serve as the charging station. When the 3,800 square feet of solar panels produce more energy than the buses need, the additional energy will be used to power the OTC offices, O’Connell said.

Credit:Oconomowoc Transport Co.

The system of on-site electricity generation reduces transfer loss—something that was very important to OTC President, Sandy Syburg. Typically, much of the electricity transported over long distances is lost as heat, reducing the energy-efficiency of hybrid projects. “Even if we were using clean energy from a wind farm in central Wisconsin, there’d still be a 40% transfer loss,” Syburg said.

Over the long term, the buses will both cut the school district’s petroleum costs and deliver public health benefits. The EPA classifies the fine particles found in diesel exhaust as likely human carcinogens, and has campaigned to reduce bus idling in front of schools.

The Oconomowoc project has been so successful that a bus company in Milwaukee, called Riteway, has ordered 13 solar-powered hybrids and two conventional hybrids, and the city of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has expressed interest in launching its own program, O’Connell said.

Both O’Connell and Syburg described the community reaction as “100% positive.” “At our ribbon-cutting ceremony, we were almost overwhelmed by the community turnout,” Syburg said. “[The project has] been embraced.”

The local school system even plans to incorporate the buses into their curriculum, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.

Nationwide, the Department of Energy's Clean Cities Program has awarded nearly $300 million in ARRA funding. O'Connell urged interested businesses and municipalities to contact their state energy departments, and ask about tax incentives or outright grants for clean transportation programs. The EPA can also be a source of funding, through their clean diesel campaign.