IF NOT NOW WHEN? IT IS TIME FOR AMHERST TO DECARBONIZE ITS MUNICIPAL FLEET

The climate strike on September 20 and 27th underscores that we live in the midst of a climate emergency. With each passing day, it takes a greater capacity for denial  to avoid the sobering facts. The Paris climate accord targets of holding the increase in global temperature to below 2°C , and ideally to an increase of no more than 1.5°C —targets deemed necessary to avoid apocalyptic consequences— are no longer within the realm of possibility according to many climate scientists. (e.g. look here, here, and here). The situation is dire, but not yet hopeless.

As David Wallace-Wells points out in his sobering assessment of our future The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, we have an opportunity to step back from the precipice, but it will require a revolutionary, unprecedented effort. Among the things necessary to hold global warming to no more than 2°C would be, at the very least, cutting global greenhouse emissions in half by 2030 and eliminating the use of fossil fuels globally by 2050.

Such a tall order has led many to throw up their hands and say that this is simply not possible—especially in those time frames.  But as Wallace-Wells points out, the consequences of a more gradualist approach are almost too horrible to imagine (though plenty do imagine it, as climate-change fiction (CLI-FI) has become a popular genre). Rising sea levels and an over-heating planet will produce famine, war, disease, political turmoil, and increasingly catastrophic weather events, and will make portions of the globe uninhabitable, producing an expected 250 million climate refugees by 2050.

It is understandable that such a grim forecast would lead people to tune out, or to say that the challenge is too great, or to deny or diminish its existence. But there are many things that we can do to move our communities and our governments in the right direction.

Right here in Amherst, our Town Council is considering incorporating electric school buses into our fleet, and the switch from diesel to electric buses carries considerable impact. Amherst participated in an electric bus pilot study sponsored by the Massachusetts Department of Transportation and has been operating one electric school bus since 2016. The initial results were mixed. Although the bus had some breakdowns and the energy savings were not what was expected, the study’s conclusions and those of others suggest that real savings will be seen as manufacturers address problems encountered in the pilots and as fleets scale up. 

Most large municipalities have already made the switch from diesel to electric or hybrid buses for public buses. But school buses remain a major emitter of carbon in this country. Ninety percent of school buses in use in the USA currently are diesel, and they are massively polluting.

New Jersey, California, and Virginia (see also here) have undertaken major campaigns to convert their school bus fleets from diesel to electric, with Virginia setting a goal of a 100 percent electric fleet by 2030. California has invested $94 million to date for the replacement of old diesel buses with mostly electric buses (with atlernatives including hybrids, propane and biodiesel). And In New Jersey, the Sierra Club is sponsoring an initiative to change laws to promote the conversion of school bus fleets to electric.

Advantages of Electric Buses Now

• Funding assistance is available: federal funds are available to help with the transition. The Environmental Mitigation Trust (established with the VW pollution settlement) has set aside between $7.5 million and $381 million/state depending on the size of their diesel fleet for conversion to electric. Amherst declined to apply for school bus fleet funds in the first round of grants but did apply for two vehicles for the public works department. One application was unsuccessful and one is still pending. A second round is opening up and the Town will need to decide soon whether we are going to apply. In addition, the New Jersey Sierra Club notes that private sector funding options for fleet conversion may be available from utility companies and manufacturers, and USPIRG has suggested ways to support purchases through bonding.
  
  
• Electrifying the fleet has considerable public health benefits. Children riding diesel buses are exposed to between 5 and 15 times more air toxins than the rest of the population. Twenty-four million children travel on nearly 500,000 school buses nationwide. Those buses travel more than four billion miles each year and those kids spend 3 billion hours on those buses. About 90 percent of those buses still run on diesel fuel, emitting annually 3,000 tons of carcinogenic soot and 95,000 tons of smog-causing compounds. Electric vehicles have zero tailpipe emissions of nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrocarbons. 

• Electric school buses will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming, especially if there is sufficient renewable energy to charge them.
  
  
• Lifetime cost of ownership for an electric school bus is estimated to be cheaper than current diesel-powered buses. This is due to the significantly lower cost of fuel and maintenance, thereby offsetting the higher initial purchase price. Electric vehicles do not need oil changes or emission testing, there are fewer parts to break down, and there is less wear and tear on the braking system.
  
  
• Operation cost savings may allow communities to reallocate school funds to higher priority areas and the cost of electric power is generally more stable than diesel or gas fuel, making it easier for school boards to budget expenses over time.

Of course, electric buses are only as clean as the grid that charges them. Nonetheless, when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, electric buses are already better than the competition, according to a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists. The use of renewable energy sources (e.g. solar or wind) to power electric vehicles will further reduce pollution from utility-owned power plants that burn fossil fuel. And the climate impacts of powering electric buses will diminish as the grid gets cleaner. 

Will the Council Pursue Decarbonization of the Fleet Now?

Right now, the Council and Town Manager do not appear sanguine about the prospect of electrifying our fleet. The Council declined to take up discussion of a white paper authored by District Five Councilor Darcy Dumont that posed fifteen questions to the town about the climate implications of its transportation investments. And, at its special meeting of 9/17/19, the Council defeated a motion (6-6-1) to postpone for one week a vote on the emergency purchase of a diesel bus so that alternatives (such as short-term rental of a replacement bus or exploration of the potential for purchasing an electric bus) could be explored. Instead, the motion to purchase the diesel bus passed 11-2-1, with scant discussion.

The Council and its Energy Climate Action Committee (ECAC) have indicated that they want Amherst to be a leader in climate policy and that the Town should set ambitious goals for use of renewable energy. Applying for the VW grant would provide funding to get us started on a change that all communities will eventually have to make. Even Forbes magazine reports that the days of fossil fuel-powered vehicles are numbered. And the climate scientists remind us that we have no time to waste.

Jamie Margolin, one of the young climate activists organizing the  climate strike, has stated that “business as usual is suicidal for planet earth.” Everything we do must be undertaken with a sense of urgency.  De-carbonizing our local municipal fleet is something consequential that we can do right now.