In May of 2008 A Siegel posted this at EcoGeek:
I am a big (BIG) fan of PHESBs: Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Buses. With all the (welcome) focus on PHECs (Plug-In Hybrid Electric Cars) like the Volt, Prius, and others, the real potential for some game changing through large fleets seem to be falling by the wayside. In fact, school buses offer some quite serious opportunities for breakthrough benefits and merit serious attention.
While I think PHESBs are a terrific idea, and while I am perhaps not looking in the right places, I cannot find much news of progress on this front, other than a smattering of pilot projects here and there.
Therefore, we may need a new strategy.
One such strategy might be to enlist our friendly neighborhood power company as an ally. How? Vehicle to Grid (V2G) applications.
Suppose fleets of school buses (otherwise idle in the summer) were used to meet summertime surges in power demand. That could offer incentive for the utility companies to subsidize the acquisition of such fleets using money saved by adding V2G power at the peak load times on summer afternoons.
A Siegel's Eco Geek post also included this passage:
One of the key challenges to achieving these benefits is the price differential between PHESBs and the standard bus. Amid tight (tighter than normal) local budget environments, spending additional money upfront for future fuel savings and for "intangible" items like children's health is difficult. IC Bus took a step in the right direction with a $40k reduction in the price of the PHESBs. Now, there are 19 PHESBs out there in America. I have heard nothing other than rave reviews of them. Last I heard: an order of 100 PHESBs and IC Bus can drop the price to the point where the fuel saving will be compelling for school administrators' purchase decisions, even without considering the quite real (but less direct to the budget) benefits like reduced pollution and emergency power reserves.
This is absolutely true (IMHO):
Amid tight (tighter than normal) local budget environments, spending additional money upfront for future fuel savings and for "intangible" items like children's health is difficult.
and overcoming the funding hurdles will be difficult, especially in Illinois given the huge budget mess left behind by our former governor Rod Blagojevich; but we also have a utility company that at least gives "lip service" to the notion of being green.
I buy my electricity from an organization known as Commonwealth Edison, a subsidiary of Exelon. I also note that Commonwealth Edison claims to seek "green" policies, at least for purposes of publicity.
For example:
Global warming demands action.
We're not waiting.
Exelon's goal is to reduce, offset or displace more than 15 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions per year by 2020. This is more than our current annual carbon footprint and is equivalent to taking nearly 3 million cars off our roads and highways. We developed a three-pronged strategy for achieving Exelon's ambitious climate goal:
- Reduce or offset Exelon's carbon footprint by greening our operations.
- Help our customers and the communities we serve reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
- Offer more low-carbon electricity in the marketplace.
Illinois is said to have approximately 18,500 school buses and the Illinois EPA has run a pilot Clean School Bus Program. It's an older link but still:
In Illinois, at least 70 percent of the 18,500 school buses in service today are powered by diesel fuel. Thousands of Illinois children ride these school buses, with many of the buses being equipped with diesel engines that lack advanced emission control technologies.
One artifact of our agrarian past is summer vacation from school. That means that ~18,500 school buses are seriously under-utilized from early June through late August, the peak season for electricity demand. This artifact of American cultural history (school summer vacation) might also offer a point of leverage.
Suppose large numbers of Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Buses were acquired and deployed in Illinois.
During the school year we would reap the benefits of lower emissions and a smaller carbon footprint. But in the summer those same buses could fill up with electricity in the wee hours of the morning (3:00 am?) and at 2:00 pm or 3:00 pm the next afternoon dump that power back into the grid.
The same buses could offer local communities emergency power after natural disasters or power outages.
The key question I have is this:
How much would this capability be worth to Commonwealth Edison? -- both in terms of load shifting (generate power in the slack hours, but sell in the peak hours) and as positive publicity for the company.
A secondary question involves the value to Commonwealth Edison of facilitating a significant new customer of electricity by switching school buses from basic diesel to plug in hybrid diesel. Perhaps ComEd could facilitate the financing of new Plug-in Hybrid Electric School Buses and bulk orders measured in the hundreds of units.
Com Ed can get a volume discount from the manufacturer and borrow money at the current low rates and then partner up with the school bus companies to deploy these vehicles. Perhaps with federal assistance.
My proposed course of action:
- Write a letter to Commonwealth Edison asking that they "do the math" on this idea and offer their own analysis as to what they would be willing to invest to launch this idea. Perhaps package this idea with Commonwealth Edison's own SmartGrid proposals.
- Copy that letter to the major school bus operators AND local school boards, local newspapers and blogs across the state of Illinois.
- Develop a grassroots social network to organize volunteers to promote the idea with their own elected officials -- IF the numbers pan out as being a viable opportunity.
This would be a partial emulation of the Illinois Wind Turbine Alliance which is seeking to build coalitions of local school boards and municipalities to enact aggregate net metering legislation to allow school districts and municipalities to "own" shares of wind turbine facilities not contiguous to their own buildings.
Any thoughts on this idea?