school buses

The biodiesel movement is taking the country by the reigns, from east to west and north to south. It’s bigger than just individuals taking advantage of the myriad rewards of the biodiesel process. Companies, townships, cities, counties, even states are joining the bandwagon. Below you’ll find just a smattering of some of the localities discovering the joys of biodiesel equipment.

Arizona: Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems has made the switch to the biodiesel process, acquiring over 7,000 gallons of a B20 mixture to be used in 150 vehicles, such as generators and forklifts.

Iowa: The Cedar Rapids transit authority, Five Seasons Transportation and Parking (FST&P) fuels a fleet of over 60 buses with the biodiesel process, with B10 fueling 45 buses and 10 para-transit vehicles as well as the minibus driven by the operation supervisor. Thanks to the biodiesel process, the buses can run 300,000 to 400,000 miles between each engine overhaul.

Kentucky: Golf course equipment in Lake Barkley State Resort Park runs on biodiesel, as do the Cadiz park’s mowers, tractors, and backhoes.

Maine: World famous retailer L.L. Bean was Maine’s first major business to try out test-marketing the biodiesel process. The Freeport-based seller of fine furnishings, sporting gear. and apparel tried out the biodiesel process in 3 tractor rigs used to shuttle trailers from one warehouse to another. Making biodiesel equipment a permanent part of their infrastructure, the company boasts, installed at one of their warehouses, an 800-gallon, skid-mounted tank and biodiesel fuel dispenser.

Maryland: The Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, demonstrate the benefits and cost-effectiveness of the biodiesel process in large-scale use with three biodiesel fuel dispensers serving 150 vehicles, including buses, trucks, mowers, tractors, and other farm equipment with a B20 mixture. The project also serves to help clean the air in neighboring Washington, D.C.

Michigan: Michigan’s St. Johns Public Schools school district has learned the benefits of the biodiesel process firsthand, having switched all 31 of their school buses and 9 support vehicles (ie. food service truck, 3-wing mower, tractor, pickup trucks) to B20 in doing so saving over $ 1800 in their first year alone.

Nevada: 1,100 school buses in a Las Vegas school district run on biodiesel process from waste vegetable oil donated by local casinos and hotels. The Clark County project consumed over 1.5 million gallons of B20 biodiesel in the first year, closer to 3 million in its second.

New Hampshire: The first winter resort on the East Coast to convert to the biodiesel process, New Hampshire’s Cranmore Mountain Resort has vowed to fuel all of its snow groomers with the same B20 mixture. That’s a 5,000 gallon-per-month commitment to the biodiesel process.

New Jersey: Thanks to a $ 115,000 grant from the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities, Energy Division, half of the school buses in the Medford Township are now powered by the biodiesel process. The district fills the tanks of 16 buses and a dump truck with a B20 mixture.

South Carolina: The campus shuttles at the University of South Carolina carry their students around with the aid of a B20 biodiesel mixture, proving that there’s more than one way for the biodiesel process to infiltrate higher education.

Tennessee: The Eastman Chemical Company is now running on a B20 mixture in around 200 diesel vehicles (including bulldozers, backhoes, dump trucks, cranes, and tractor trailers) and around 150 pieces of stationary equipment (like air compressors, water pumps, welders, and generators).

Utah: All diesel equipment at the Salt Lake City International Airport, a major western hub with no less than 12 airlines running 335 scheduled flights daily out of it, and serving 20 million passengers per year, is now biodiesel equipment, and has been since 2001. This means if you’ve traveled through the Salt Lake Airport, you may have already unwittingly experienced some of the many benefits of the biodiesel process.

The future of every human being is made better thanks to the groundswell in biodiesel equipment and biodiesel vehicles. With only 1/4 the carbon emissions and the promise of freedom from the seemingly never-ending rise in gas and crude oil prices, the biodiesel process is no doubt here to stay and only destined to keep catching on.