• By AMY WOLD
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: Nov 7, 2008 - Page: 1B - UPDATED: 12:05 a.m.

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The school bus parked outside the BREC Independence Park Theater on Thursday morning looked like any other yellow school bus.

It wasn’t until the engine started that the real difference was noted — this bus didn’t have that distinctive exhaust odor because it runs on propane.

This Blue Bird Propane School Bus was in town as part of a south Louisiana road trip to promote propane as an alternative, cleaner burning fuel.

The state Department of Natural Resources’ Technology Assessment Division and Energy Office joined with various other groups to organize the morning propane demonstration.

The event also highlighted a lawn mower and a propane bobtail fuel truck, both powered by propane.

“I’ve been working on clean air issues in the Baton Rouge area for some time,” said Mike McDaniel, professional in residence at LSU’s Center for Energy Studies.

The greater Baton Rouge area is still trying to meet federal standards for ozone pollution, and McDaniel said that propane-fueled vehicles, which produce much less pollution in terms of greenhouse gases, ozone-causing emissions and small particles of soot than conventional engines, can play a piece in that effort.

Michael Vince, administrator of the state Department of Environmental Quality Air Quality Assessment Division, agreed.

“A program like this with propane-powered equipment has the potential for a lot of emission reduction,” he said.

In addition to the environmental benefits, speakers at the event said propane is a readily available cheap product that is mass produced in the United States.

Tim Condon, vice president of business development for CleanFUEL USA, said 90 percent of the world’s propane is produced in the United States with Texas and Louisiana being the two largest producers. And, he added, some of that product is going to waste.

“Right now, we produce more propane than we use. It just gets flared off into the atmosphere,” Condon said.

Although propane-fueled vehicles account for less than 1 percent of vehicles used in the United States, in Mexico almost 25 percent of vehicles use the fuel and almost 40 percent of vehicles in India, Condon said.

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