TRB Pubsindex
Text Size:
x

« Prev Next »

Return to Results | New Search

Bookmark and Share

Title:

Emissions and Idling of Cobb County School District Buses

Accession Number:

01367697

Record Type:

Component

Abstract:

In 2010-2011, an idle and emission reduction program was funded by the USEPA to reduce the idling emissions of Cobb County School District (CCSD) bus fleet. The project aims to reduce idling of school buses by installing GPS, idle detection systems, and automatic engine shutoff devices in 500 school buses and providing bus dispatchers with a web-based system to track vehicle activity and idling in real-time. A team of researchers at Georgia Tech developed the idle control systems and is evaluating the emissions and fuel savings of the project using standard modeling tools. This research effort presents an analysis of baseline school bus idling activity and the results of the emissions modeling for idle reduction potential. EPA’s MOVES mobile source emission model was used to develop school bus emission rates for each operating mode, defined by the instantaneous vehicle speed, acceleration and scaled tractive power. Local data for Cobb County and the air quality planning region were also input into the MOVES model. The pollutants modeled include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, particulate matter (coarse and fine), oxides of nitrogen, and gaseous hydrocarbons. The vehicle activity data collected through the installed components on the buses was classified into the operating mode bins for each second of recorded data, and multiplied by the corresponding emission rate to determine the total modal emissions before and after project implementation. Preliminary results suggest that thousands of gallons of diesel fuel and thousands of dollars can be saved with the project, improving overall fleet fuel efficiency by 2%, while also reducing emissions in some categories by as much as 38%.

Supplemental Notes:

This paper was sponsored by TRB committee ADC20 Transportation and Air Quality

Monograph Accession #:

01362476

Report/Paper Numbers:

12-4287

Language:

English

Corporate Authors:

Transportation Research Board

500 Fifth Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001 United States

Authors:

Rome, Chris
Elango, Vetri Venthan
Khoeini, Sara
Guensler, Randall

Pagination:

18p

Publication Date:

2012

Conference:

Transportation Research Board 91st Annual Meeting

Location: Washington DC, United States
Date: 2012-1-22 to 2012-1-26
Sponsors: Transportation Research Board

Media Type:

Digital/other

Features:

Figures; References; Tables

Uncontrolled Terms:

Emissions reduction

Geographic Terms:

Cobb County (Georgia)

Subject Areas:

Energy; Environment; Highways; Vehicles and Equipment; I15: Environment; I96: Vehicle Operating Costs

Source Data:

Transportation Research Board Annual Meeting 2012 Paper #12-4287

Files:

TRIS, TRB

Created Date:

Feb 8 2012 5:23PM