By Dr. Sanchari Sinha Dutta, Ph.D.May 28 2024Reviewed by Benedette Cuffari, M.Sc. In a recent study published in PNAS, researchers assess the health and climate benefits of replacing old diesel school buses with electric buses in the United States.
In the U.S., about 500,000 school buses serve about 24 million students. A significant proportion of these buses are model year 2005 diesel vehicles, which are estimated to emit 12 times more PM2.5 for every mile driven than model year 2010 diesel school buses. About the study In the current study, scientists estimate the per-mile benefits of replacing diesel school buses with electric buses in 3,108 U.S. counties.
The entire diesel school bus fleet in 2017 was associated with 170 deaths and 280 new childhood asthma cases due to PM2.5 exposure. Comparatively, the researchers estimate that the complete replacement of diesel buses with electric buses would result in seven deaths and 12 new childhood asthma cases due to PM2.5 exposure.
Considering vehicle MY, replacing MY 2005 diesel buses with electric buses is associated with seven times greater health benefits than replacing MY 2010 diesel buses and 16- to 18 times greater health benefits than replacing MY 2020 diesel buses. Furthermore, the health benefits of $207,200 USD can be achieved by replacing MY 2005 diesel miles driven in large central metropolitan areas.