Sounds like an interesting project (the bus electric/biodiesel bit). Where does the electricity come from? If the buses are running on electrical made by burning fossil fuels, then the net carbon savings are minimal. I live near Vancouver, on the Canadian west coast. Vancouver has been using electric trolley buses big time - but without the biodiesel option. The power comes from hydroelectric sources, so it is a clear transit system. I wish we could move more cars to electrical power.
I am thinking you may be in Australia... so hopefully this isn't old news to you.... and as a way to totally hijack this thread (but since we seem to be the only two people on it.... ) places in the US - notably California - started phasing out incandescent light bulbs because they generate more heat than light, and it was deemed wasteful. British Columbia got on the bandwagon, and is also phasing out incandescents in favour of compact fluorescents. However, there is a difference between BC and California. The vast majority of California is hot and they use air conditioning for much of the year, and the vast majority of BC is mild and have the heat on for good chunks of year. The other difference is that BC uses clean hydro, and California uses dirty coal to make electricity.
In California, it made no sense to burn coal to power lightbulbs that generated heat that you would then have to burn more coal to power the AC to get rid of the heat.
In BC, the excess heat from the bulbs was partly helping to heat the buildings - using hydroelectric power. In Vancouver and other main population centres most homes and buildings using heating systems fed by natural gas. So, for every heat generating light bulb removed from a building, more natural gas has to be burned to make up for loss of heat generated. We actually make more greenhouse gasses by getting rid of incandescents in Vancouver and places hooked up to natural gas lines.
Plus - CFLs have mercury in them, and you are supposed to dispose of them by taking them to a hazardous waste disposal facility.
I don't know how the overall balance works out in BC - whether overall removing incandescents is a net benefit or not - but I know that the government has not made any studies into this topic public. Which, to me, means it was getting on the bandwagon that was important to the government - not whether it actually benefited the environment.
Anyway, this long post is to make the point that one needs to look at the overall balance of changing over to a different energy source. If all that is happening is that the dirty energy is being used up in different place, and then sent down the power-lines..... well is that really an improvement? I don't know your community's situation, so this is not a comment on your particular project... Good Luck with the poster and the campaign.
