Did you remember sometime last year we told you a story about some students and teachers of Green School, wanting to convert their school bus into a “Magic Bus”? Magic, because the bus runs on bio-fuel, previously unknown to be used by buses across the island?
Green School is known for thinking big, but bringing this idea to fruition in Indonesia was almost unimaginable. Indeed such a feat would break the mould for transportation, as renewable energy remains a far off concept.
However, in a mystical Balinese way, this rudimentary team found a bus and biodiesel supplier to launch the first biodiesel school bus in Indonesia. This bus is, quite literally, called the Bio Bus and it is fueled wholly by recycled cooking oil. Fast forward to one year later, the program has grown three-fold. The three Bio Buses commute over 1,200 Green School riders every month, making this is great solution to the growing traffic problems in Bali. This bus has also given the regular Bio Bus riders a certain pride. They have taken part in successfully offsetting up to 2.9 CO2 tonnes every month!
Bio Buses have also opened up even more exciting educational opportunities. The buses are used everyday for field trips and learning excursions, being a great fodder for teachers in teaching environmental studies, math, enterprise, and chemistry. Students have also taken the learning opportunity to the next level and shown themselves as young sustainability innovators by using the glycerin, byproduct from making biodiesel, to make a natural soap that is marketed locally.
Students of Green Schools are involved in this initiative from the top to bottom; from serving on the Bio Bus Board of Directors making strategic decisions to trooping the streets, going from one restaurant to the next, to collect used cooking oil to make biodiesel. Bio Bus team have also shared their culminated work at the TEDxUbud, where students Kyla Langotsky and Maxwell Hidajat presented as “Biofuel Pioneers”.
Kyla & Maxwell, Green School students, on TEDxUbud stage. (Photo Credit: TEDxUbud)
This Bio Bus initiative has provided an opportunity for everyone in the community to get involved in making Bali a healthier, cleaner island. This is one of the dreams we wish to achieve through true holistic learning at Green School. And through Bio Bus, we have officially made that dream come true.