UB Engineering Students Aim to Reduce School-Bus Emissions

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Concern about school-bus emissions and potential health risks to children who ride the buses every day has prompted some Buffalo-area school districts to turn several of their buses into air-quality testing grounds with help from environmentally conscious students from the University at Buffalo.

The students, members of the UB chapter of Engineers for a Sustainable World (ESW), are partnering with Erie County on a program that aims to reduce diesel emissions in school buses.

Called the Erie County Clean School Bus Initiative (ECCSBI), the program plans to use data that the UB students gather through testing to educate school district administrators, faculty, parents and students about the issue, as well as convince them to install equipment on buses to decrease what some researchers consider to be deadly fumes.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is funding the initiative through a grant to Erie County, according to Bonnie Lawrence, environmental project manager for the county, prompted by research that shows that diesel emissions from the very vehicles presumed to safely transport students are threatening their health. More than 40 known carcinogens -- all of which the EPA considers toxic are part of the exhaust from diesel engines.

UB students will install monitoring equipment in some of the buses from each of six school districts to test air inside and outside the vehicles. The county then will retrofit those buses with emissions-reducing equipment later this month. Once that equipment is in place -- catalytic converters to filter tailpipe emissions and a crankcase filter to clean air in the bus interior -- the UB students will return to repeat the air-quality tests, documenting any changes that occur.

The first six school districts participating in the program are Akron, Grand Island, Iroquois, Kenmore-Tonawanda, Lancaster and Sweet Home. Lawrence said the county grant will fund the retrofitting of the remainder of those districts' buses -- 254 in all -- by the end of the year. Meanwhile, the county is working to secure funding to install the same equipment eventually on buses in its other 23 school districts.

UB joined the county efforts earlier this year after UB members of ESW proposed several emissions-reduction programs for the university, including running its shuttle buses and other vehicles on cleaner-burning biodiesel fuel.

The students turned to Robert Baier, executive director of the university's Industry/University Center on Biosurfaces (IUCB) and professor of oral diagnostic sciences in the UB School of Dental Medicine, to help them with emissions-reduction research.

IUCB already was conducting a program with funding from the New York State Office of Science, Technology and Academic Research (NYSTAR) in conjunction with the Environmental Quality Center headquartered at Syracuse University.

Clean Air Technologies International Inc., a local industry partner, provided Baier with its portable monitoring system, which tests exhaust emissions by attaching two sensors on the tailpipe and installing a computer inside the bus. Baier also was able to provide the students with an Aircuity system, which logs the air quality inside the buses during standard operations.

When Erie County called this past spring, Baier was able to sign up his students and equipment for the ECCSBI.

Lawrence said the county is grateful for UB's participation in the program, which in addition to assisting schools with making changes related to transportation management, inspection and maintenance, provides information to bus drivers on anti-idling strategies "to improve the health of the school population, as well as reduce emissions, smog, ozone depletion and respiratory illness."

The ESW students are grateful, too, for the chance to perform some hands-on research. Being able to carry out actual testing "is actually the most interesting part," according to sophomore Siddhesh Prasad, a chemical and biological engineering major.

"There will be a market for biodiesel someday because that's the future," Prasad said. "The point of this project is not to tell someone they are wrong (for using diesel), but to change the way we think."

Blair noted that the ECCSBI testing and other projects that ESW has planned fit well with UB's commitment to environmental stewardship.

Enabling undergraduates to get involved in research is another benefit of the partnership with Erie County, one that ESW hopes will speak well for the students when they propose future projects at UB, Blair said.

"One of our goals with this process is it takes advantage of the fact that this is a research university, so let's make this a learning opportunity," said Chris Llop, president of the ESW chapter. "It doesn't end with biodiesel and emissions testing. The ability to do testing, the ability to carry out research -- these are things that can be used in many situations."

Baier said the ESW students have the ability to make a difference in the Erie County school districts and beyond.

"They are going to do brilliant research with it," Baier said. "But what's important is that they are working with government and private companies. We're taking this spontaneous student interest and making a better world, putting it together with industry and helping it grow. The cooperation from government agencies is all to the good because it brings results to the public sooner."

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, the largest and most comprehensive campus in the State University of New York. UB's more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.