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New report on effects of diesel school bus replacements
A new HEI report, Assessing the National Health, Education, and Air Quality Benefits of the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s School Bus Rebate Program: A Randomized Controlled Trial Design, presents a study led by Sara Adar of the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health.
Adar and colleagues conducted a thorough accountability study of a program for replacing old diesel school buses with new, lower-emitting buses across the United States.
The investigators assessed the effects of random location of funding for new school buses to school districts between 2012 and 2017 on student health, educational performance, and community air pollution levels.
Key takeaways:
- Student educational performance and school attendance improved in districts that were selected for funding to replace old buses and improved the most in districts that replaced the oldest (pre-1990) diesel-powered school buses. There was no clear effect on emergency department visits.
- Community-level fine particle air pollution concentrations improved in school districts that had been selected for funding with the largest gains in districts that replaced the oldest buses, although it was not clear to what extent those improvements were driven by the new school buses.
- As electric school buses and other lower-emitting technologies become more widely available, additional benefits from continuing efforts to replace older school buses are expected and should be assessed.
Join us for a discussion with Sara Adar about reducing school bus emissions on the Science on the 7th livestream episode on October 17 at 10:00am EDT.
