Design & Architecture

When Kern County School District Superintendent Larry Reid decided it was time to take steps within the school district to improve air quality and reduce CO2 emissions he found he had an unlikely ally,,, Homebuilders. That's because for each new home built in the area developers contribute about $1200 into a fund to be used to help offset the pollution put out by the process as a result of a settlement between them and the Sierra Club.

Predictably, developers weren't so happy at first about the added cost to their building budgets, but now they've found that virtually every developer in the area has to make some sort of payment to help protect the environment, and the money is certainly being put to good use. Reid's used the $330K his district received from the fund to help offset the added cost of purchasing 7 additional clean burning compressed natural gas (CNG) buses, bringing the total to 38 of the 89 buses in the district that now run on the cleaner fuel. And at 160K per bus as opposed to 120K for the traditional diesel variety, the fund has really helped make the purchase possible. Long term, the fact that CNG is ultimately about one-third cheaper than diesel should help further offset the costs as well. Ultimately he's looking to replace all of the buses, a worthy goal for every school district and municipality in the country.

via:: The Bakersfield Californian