Ever get behind a bus and watch — or smell — the big black plume of smoke the beast belches out every time it lurches forward?
That’s about to change.
With some new engine technology and specially formulated fuels, a project between BP and the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority will demonstrate how clean buses can be.
It’s an example of how businesses can make a positive impact on the environment without sacrificing their ability to make money — an issue those in Congress wrestle with every day.
Ten buses are already running on ultra-low sulfur diesel that will immediately reduce emissions by 10 percent. The real payoff in cleaner air comes when RTA receives, over the next two years, 200 new buses equipped with engine and exhaust management technology that will reduce soot, hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emissions by 90 percent.
The BP fuel meets federal diesel fuel standards that take effect in 2006, and the company has agreed to increase production as the project expands. As other communities study the Cleveland project, BP hopes to add customers for its cleaner burning fuel. This is the first use of ultra-low sulfur diesel by a municipal bus fleet in the Midwest, although fleets on the West Coast have been using it for more than two years.
The bus test is part of the Cleveland Air Toxic Project, a joint effort of various federal and local government agencies, and citizens groups that serves as a model for communities nationwide.
BP gets a market for an emerging product and Cleveland gets cleaner air. That’s a deal we can all breathe easy about.
