Retrofitting our way to clean air

Schoolbuses never seemed like the safest idea to me: These big, yellow monstrosities with no seatbelts and no real separation between the driver and a bunch of rowdy little kids. But schoolbuses are getting a whole lot safer, and it has nothing to do with seatbelts or paper-airplane proof barricades. Diesel retrofit programs are greatly reducing childhood exposure to toxic air pollution, and they are becoming more and more common, especially in the northeastern United States.

According to the EPA website, 24 million children ride a schoolbus every day, spending an hour and a half traveling on the bus. The noxious fumes released from a diesel bus engine are circulated right back into the bus and breathed in by children, contributing greatly to childhood asthma and other respiratory health problems. But through the hard work of environmental and health groups, as well as the growing public concern about health problems associated with diesel exhaust, a number of cities and states are now requiring these pollution-reducing retrofits on their vehicles.

A particulate filter looks like a honeycomb on the inside with small chambers to capture the tiny balls of carbon wrapped in toxins and metals that are emitted from a diesel engine, and keeps them from being inhaled into vulnerable lungs. The most advanced filters are capable of catching up to 90% of the toxic matter coming out of a diesel engine. Long term air quality studies done by the EPA have proven that reducing particulate matter pollution levels can lead to far greater life expectancy, as well as cleaner, fresher air. A bill requiring schoolbus retrofits on the entire state fleet was passed in my home, little ‘ol Rhode Island in 2007, and our spunky state is now working on a plan to retrofit state construction and public works diesels. Similar plans are in various stages in states like Massachusetts and Connecticut among others.

To learn about retrofit programs, visit the EPA clean diesel website or check out Clean Water Action's website to learn more about Rhode Island's progress.

Diesel pollution is one of those problems that won’t be a problem anymore in the near future. Technology holds such an incredible capacity to do good, and we know that retrofits are, and will continue to save lives.