Dallas County Schools Unveils "Fryer Flyer"

On Thursday, April 2 Superintendent of Dallas County Schools Dr. Rick Sorrells and DCS Board President Mr. Larry Duncan unveiled the district's first "Fryer Flyer" and their bio-diesel facility at the Kleberg Service Center.

The "Fryer Flyer" has been fitted to run on waste vegetable oil as well as bio-diesel. Built with factory stock items by DCS technicians, this school bus includes a computerized switch to maximize fuel efficiency based on engine temperature.

DCS is shifting their diesel school buses to bio-fuels, developing their own "home-grown" fuel source. DCS President Larry Duncan and the Board of Trustees, with support from NEA-Dallas, set using alternative fuels as a priority for the county-wide school bus provider in 2007, and the testing phase is complete.

DCS will be doing their part to cut our nation's dependency on foreign oil while greatly reducing the amount of pollutants their buses spew into the air. Additionally, tests show that diesel pollution conncentrates inside of bus and that will be reduced as well.

Working with Two Podners Restaurant, Frito Lay, and an assortment of restaurants and food manufacturers, DCS is collecting "post-consumer grease" - waste vegetable oil (WVO) that's been used to fry foods and is no longer fit for human consumption. This oil is the basis of DCS' alternaive diesel fuel program.

DCS will use this WVO to produce its own bio-diesel to power its buses until the fleet can be converted to run on straight WVO. The District intends to construct other bio-diesel production facilities at its other service centers around the county.

I want to encourage the members of NEA-Dallas and all of you that read this to save your waste vegetable oil. Do not just put it out to be picked up and dumped in our land fills. Keep it in a container and call us, 214-821-2061. We will arrange with DCS for a pick-up location.

That way, YOU TOO, can help reduce our dependence on foreign oil and improve the air that all of us breathe.