INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (Dec. 2, 2016) — The Indiana Office of Energy Development (OED) announced recently that it has awarded more than $140,000 in grants to six school districts throughout the state. The grants were awarded as part of the Indiana Office of Energy Development’s 2016 Indiana Propane School Bus grant program, an initiative to promote the use of alternative power and fuels, energy efficiency, and public education on energy issues in Indiana.
Blue Bird Vision Propane School Bus

The grants will help offset costs for the six school districts that committed to purchasing at least two new buses, and that have access to propane fueling infrastructure or show that they will have access to such infrastructure if awarded the grant. The OED says propane buses benefit the recipients by decreasing students' exposure to harmful particulate matter, lowering maintenance costs through the use of cleaner-burning propane fuel, and increasing alternative fuel diversity.

The 2016 Indiana Propane School Bus grant program recipients include:
• Avon Community School Corporation (20 buses)
• DeKalb County Central United School District (5 buses)
• Metropolitan School District of Wayne Township (9 buses)
• Southwest Allen County School (4 buses)
• Tippecanoe School Corporation (11 buses)
• West Noble School Corporation (2 buses)

The recipients are required to track data such as miles driven, fuel usage, and cost savings for one year after they begin using the new buses. Those reports will be presented to the OED quarterly from January 2017 through spring 2018.

Last January, the Metropolitan School District of Warren Township in Indianapolis unveiled 11 new propane school buses which, at the time, was the largest deployment of propane buses in the state.