By Jamison R. Walker Matthew L. Heintz under the faculty guidance of Dr. Anne Henriksen, Ph.D. A thesis submitted to the Integrated Science and Technology Program at James Madison University in fulfillment of ISAT - 491/492/493 as a capstone project April 15, 2011

Overview Introduction Sponsors and Partners Background Statement of Problem Objectives Methodology Assumptions Results Discussion Conclusions Future Work Unanticipated Challenges Acknowledgements References Questions

Sponsors and Partners Department of Energy – Clean Cities Program Virginia Clean Cities – Provided $50,000 in grant funds through Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean School Bus Program. Acted as project managers. “Virginia Clean Cities is a not-for-profit government- industry program that works to reduce Virginia’s dependence on petroleum and for cleaner air.” Chelsea Jenkins – Executive Director Ryan Cornett – Outreach Coordinator

Virginia Beach Public Schools Robert Clinebell – Fleet Manager until November 2010 Curtis Barger – Fleet Manager since November 2010 Albemarle County Public Schools Josh Davis – Director of Transportation Christine Martinez – Fleet Manager Virginia Mobile Air-Conditioning Systems, Incorporated Scott Faivre – President Webasto North America Paul Baczewski – National Account Manager - School Division Sponsors and Partners

Background – What Is Idling? Idling an engine means that the engine is consuming fuel just enough to keep itself and its accessories running. Idle Reduction – Any technology or method used to reduce the amount of time heavy-duty trucks and school buses idle their engines.

Background – Technologies Fuel-Operated Heaters A heat exchanger that warms an engine’s coolant fluid and circulates it to warm the engine and blow warm air into the passenger compartment. NOT an auxiliary power unit Tied into main fuel line Compared to idling the engine Uses much less fuel Emits far fewer emissions Provides heat faster

Background – Technologies TSL-17 Compared to idling Uses 1/8 th the amount of fuel Emits 1/20 th the amount of emissions Images taken from the TSL-17 user manual ©Webasto

Background – Technologies GPS Units EveryDay Solutions, Inc. Everywhere Light “A powerful Automatic Vehicle Location Application.” Tracks school buses and keeps historical record of data We used one of its capabilities – Engine Idling Characteristics Generates a report that uses equations as a function of constants and variables based on idling time, fuel consumption rate, fuel price and emission rates to calculate fuel cost due to idling and total emissions.

The Problem Driver behavior Fuel consumption – 1.3 gallons per hour 0.64 gallons per hour (Argonne National Lab) Emissions – CO, CO 2, HC, PM, NO x Associated costs Environmental and economic impacts

Objectives Determine effectiveness of fuel-operated heaters Validate manufacturer’s claims Estimate theoretical values for reductions in fuel consumption, emissions and associated costs. Act as a successful decision-making tool

Methodology Prior to our involvement Initial proposal originated in 2008 Distributor was chosen – VMACS, Inc. Fuel-Operated Heater was chosen – Webasto TSL-17 Virginia Beach Public Schools joined project Gloucester County Public Schools verbally committed to joining project Our first steps Order and have heaters installed for Virginia Beach Secure second participant Gloucester County backed out Chose Albemarle County to join in September 2010

Methodology Procuring the heaters Ordered from and installed by VMACS, Inc. Price: $1, $400 for installation per heater Ten heaters for Virginia Beach - $20, Ordered on April 26, 2010 Installed in July 2010 Fourteen heaters for Albemarle County - $28, Ordered on October 28, 2010 Installed by December 1, 2010

Methodology – Acquiring Data Virginia Beach Public Schools Idling Summary Reports were exported from Everywhere Light® into Microsoft Excel® by the Fleet Manager ed to us intermittently Albemarle County Public Schools Idling Summary Reports were exported and gathered by us personally on site All data were organized and stored using Dropbox®

Methodology – Analyzing Data Selecting control groups Virginia Beach Chosen by comparable MPGs Chosen by comparable idling times Albemarle County Chosen by comparable MPGs Setting up Summary Sheets Virginia Beach Sorted by Group into Before and After data Albemarle County Sorted into Before and After data Used arrays in Summary Sheet to lookup data in Before and After sheets

Assumptions Idling uses 1.3 gal/hour Idling emissions rates: CO – 41 g/hr NO x – 109 g/hr HC – 8 g/hr CO 2 – 5,846 g/hr PM – 0.35 g/hr Excessive Idling Threshold – 10 minutes The difference between the before and after data is due to using the heater instead of idling the engine.

Results – Virginia Beach See files on Dropbox…

Results – VB Idle Characteristics Experimental Group Average Idling Duration (MM:SS) Before Installation58:28 After Installation41:48 Reduction16:40(28.5%) Average Idling Occurrences Before Installation3.28 After Installation2.42 Reduction0.86(26.1%)

Results – VB Emissions Reductions Experimental Group CONO x HCCO 2 PM Before , After , Reduction , (28.5%)

Results – VB Avoided Costs Before Costs – Experimental Group Total Cost of Fuel Used for Idling$ Total Idling Duration (HHH:MM:SS)189:33:22 Cost/Hour of Idling$2.88 Average Fuel Price/Gallon (based on 1.3 gal/hr)$2.21 After Costs – Experimental Group Total Cost of Fuel Used for Idling$ Total Idling Duration (HHH:MM:SS)134:17:27 Cost/Hour of Idling$3.82 Average Fuel Price/Gallon (based on 1.3 gal/hr)$2.94 Difference in Average Fuel Price/Gallon$0.73 Average Measured Cost/Day (Before)$2.80 Average Measured Cost/Day (After)$2.67 Difference in Cost/Day$0.13 If average fuel price stayed at $2.21 for After, the After Cost/Day would be:$2.00 Savings per bus per day:$0.80 Savings per day for ten buses:$8.00 Savings for 5 months of use (5 days/wk)(4 wks/mo):$ Simple Payback Period ($20,000 initial investment):25 years

Results – Virginia Beach

Results – Albemarle County See files on Dropbox…

Discussion – Virginia Beach Heaters essentially eliminated morning idle occurrences and sometimes an afternoon occurrence depending on a given bus’s schedule. This led to nearly one (0.86) less idling occurrence(s) per day = 16 min 40 sec Idle duration decrease validates theory of driver idling behavior that drivers idle between 15 to 30 minutes pre- route.

Discussion – Virginia Beach Important to note that our results are very conservative given our fuel consumption rate of 1.3 gallons/hour. For results based on Argonne rate simply divide in half Also, important to note that the 10 minute threshold didn’t account for any idle occurrence less than 10 minutes. Depending on route type a bus could have several accumulated short idle occurrences that are immeasurable. Could account for 10%, 30%, 50% of total idling?

Discussion – Albemarle County We didn’t see congruent results due to lack of archived before data because of the late start on data acquisition. The observed six-minute decrease was comparing different months with different temperatures and idling characteristics, whereas, Virginia Beach used same months from previous year. After installation results were similar to results observed from Virginia Beach.

Conclusions While the heaters did prove to reduce idling fuel costs and emissions by a significant percentage, based on their initial costs, we did not find the heaters to be cost effective in the short term. (25 year simple payback) Although, as the fuel price goes up, the heaters become more cost effective because they save more money per unit of fuel. For a 5 year payback period, fuel price would need to be $11.05 per gallon For a 10 year payback period, fuel price would need to be $5.53 per gallon

Conclusions Heaters can become more cost effective the more they are used. (e.g. colder climates) Although savings proved to be ineffective economically, if the environmental benefits cover the extra costs then it could be worth it. Emissions due to idling were decreased 28.5%. To achieve the same results without the heaters, an engine would need to be 28.5% more efficient while idling.

Future Work Perform more and different trials In colder locations On fleets with different route types Choose control groups based on similar route types Continue data acquisition with Albemarle County Use real-world values obtained through actual measurements instead of theoretical values Can be used as a decision-making tool Will be a successful case study

Unanticipated Challenges Gloucester dropout Securing a second participant Depending on external sources for data Personnel change in Virginia Beach Administrative software access restrictions in Albemarle County Formatting compatibility between programs

Acknowledgements We would like to thank all of our sponsors and partners for their patience, cooperation and understanding. This would not have been possible without you!!! VMACS, Inc.

References Virginia Clean Cities. (2010). Virginia Clean Cities. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from Espar. (2010). Espar – Coolant Heaters. Retrieved April 23, 2010, from html html Virginia Clean Cities. (2009). Draft Quality Assurance Project Plan. Argonne National Laboratory. (n.d) How Much Could You Save By Idling Less?

Questions?