Granite School District began the 2018/2019 school year with idle-free technology installed on 40 buses—nearly a third of the entire fleet.

Granite is the first school district in Utah to install the Utah-invented and patented Idle Free Heat Technology in its buses. The installation was made possible through grant funding from the Utah Clean Air Partnership (UCAIR) Grant Program with matching funds from the district and Idle Free Heat.

As we enter into the cooler fall months, the Idle Free Heat system solves the drivers’ dilemma of having to idle when waiting for school pickups to keep the heat flowing into the vehicle. Idle Free Heat harnesses the heat that is normally wasted away when the vehicle is off and recirculates it through the vehicle’s vents, providing heat for up to an hour—all while producing zero emissions and using zero fuel.

Installation of the idle free technology was made possible through the UCAIR Grant Program to fund innovative projects that have significant impact on improving air quality. Funding for the grant program comes from private donations.

“Eliminating hundreds of pounds of pollution emissions from idling has an immediate impact on air quality,” said Thom Carter, UCAIR executive director. “I hope that in the near future all buses in school districts statewide will install the Idle Free Heat technology to reduce their emissions for the health of us all.”

Read more:

ABC4 – 40 Granite School buses will heat without idling

Deseret News – ‘I hate waste’: How a Utah inventor is cleaning the air, one bus at a time