S.C. considers converting its school bus fleet to biodiesel.

[Thom Little]

The dregs of deep fryers could be used to power the buses that carry 371,000 students a day to public schools.

Biodiesel made from leftover fryer grease has emerged as a "serious" possibility as the state searches for alternative fuels that would help prevent shortages like the one that threatened to shutter classrooms after Hurricane Katrina destroyed pipelines in the summer.

Researchers say they are in the early stages of determining whether it would be economically possible for the state to home-brew its own biodiesel and mix it with petroleum-based diesel to fill up its fleet of 5,000 buses. The raw material for biodiesel can either be the grease from fried food or virgin vegetable oil made from soybeans, sugarcane or other crops.

Advocates say the fuel can help reduce the nation's dependence on foreign oil, provide a real-life science lab for students and cut back on smog-producing sulfur dioxide. Critics argue that the science on biodiesel emissions isn't so clear-cut and may result in more nitrous oxide, another pollutant.


http://www.greenvilleonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20051213/NEWS01/512130331

[afdip]

1. i suspect 3/4's of the state will object because it takes science

to make biodiesel and they're doing their best to subjugate science to religion in the schools (and, by extension, school buses).