Hong Kong school trials biodiesel in 2 buses

Photo: The Alliance for Sustainable Schools

The Alliance for Sustainable Schools announced Feb. 21 that the Harbour School and its school-bus company Jolly Bus Co. have begun trialing biodiesel in two school buses.

The Harbour School is the first school in Hong Kong to use biodiesel, a low-carbon fuel made from waste.

This development is the fruit of a campaign by the Alliance for Sustainable Schools to get biodiesel in more school buses.

The campaign was launched at a workshop in October, which brought together experts from Shell, ASB Biodiesel, Green School Bali, WWF as well as the Harbour School and sustainability practitioners from several other international schools.

Subsequent collaboration between the Harbour School and the Alliance for Sustainable Schools culminated in the recent decision by Jolly Bus Co. and the Harbour School to use biodiesel to reduce the carbon emissions from its bus service.

“We are delighted to be seeing the first results of our campaign to get biodiesel in school buses,” said Anthony Dixon, founder and chairman of the Alliance for Sustainable Schools. “We congratulate the Harbour School and Jolly Bus on their leadership in demonstrating the use of biodiesel in school buses. We look forward to seeing many other schools and their bus companies follow this example.”

Transport is responsible for nearly 20 percent of Hong Kong’s greenhouse-gas emissions.

The Hong Kong government’s strategy to decarbonize the economy by 2050 envisages widespread use of electric vehicles (EVs). However, the transition to EVs will take several decades because it requires significant investment in new buses, charging infrastructure and low-carbon sources of electricity.

Biodiesel can make a significant contribution to reducing carbon emissions during the transition—it can be used immediately at scale without requirements for new infrastructure.

Pure biodiesel (B100) made from waste reduces carbon-dioxide emissions by 85 percent compared to fossil diesel.

It is manufactured in Hong Kong by three local companies that have the capacity to produce more than 26.4 million gallons of biodiesel per year.

This represents about 10 percent of the fossil diesel consumed annually in the road-transport sector in Hong Kong.

Biodiesel could therefore cut carbon emissions from road transport by 8.5 percent immediately.

“No other transport fuel or technology available today can achieve such a significant reduction in carbon emissions on such a short time scale,” the Alliance for Sustainable Schools stated.

This pioneering decision by the Harbour School and Jolly Bus Co. illustrates the role the Alliance for Sustainable Schools is playing as an agent for change for sustainable schools.

By building a highly connected network of schools committed to sustainability and engaging with innovative companies like Jolly Bus Co. and local biodiesel manufacturers, the Alliance for Sustainable Schools aims to demonstrate the feasibility of low-carbon alternatives to the status quo.

The Alliance for Sustainable Schools can then scale the impact of these early pilot demonstrations by replicating them in a large number of schools around the world.

“The Harbour School is pleased to be a member of the Alliance for Sustainable Schools and to have collaborated with them to achieve this breakthrough,” said Kyle King, co-principal of the Harbour School. “They have helped mobilize the necessary expertise and bring together the right stakeholders to enable this. We have broken new ground here and I hope that makes it a bit easier for other schools to follow our example. It will validate the Alliance for Sustainable Schools’ model of schools working together to accelerate the transition to our low-carbon future.”

The Alliance for Sustainable Schools is a nonprofit network of schools working together to help accelerate the transition to a sustainable future. The alliance collaborates with its members and innovative companies to catalyze systems change in four areas where most schools’ operations are currently unsustainable—school uniforms, food, buses and buildings—and promotes education for sustainability.