Craig Burch has driven school buses in Savannah-Chatham County for three years.
A typical day for Craig Burch begins at 3 a.m. He takes a shower, drives to the bus yard, and performs a series of pre-trip safety checks all before his passengers have even had breakfast.
Burch has been driving school buses in Savannah-Chatham County, Georgia for three years. When asked about a day in the life of a bus driver, he laughed.
“Whew, Lord. A typical day,” Burch said. “Be out here in the yard about five, make sure the bus ready. Go through the whole walk-through, pre-trip check with the bus. Then drive to your first stop and from that point on, all you gotta do is fight the traffic, deal with the kids back and forth, and watch the road.”
The average person might be intimidated by steering a huge vehicle full of bantering children through traffic day after day, but Burch makes it sound easy. This is a routine he’s perfected over his three years as a school bus driver, but things look and sound a little different since he got an electric school bus earlier this year. The new electric bus glides quietly along the early morning streets, a striking contrast to the loud rumble of a diesel-powered engine.
“When we pull up, we either got to blow the horn or hit the air brakes, but other than that, driving through the neighborhoods is real quiet. You’re not waking up the neighbors,” Burch said.
Operationally, Burch has noticed that electric buses are easier to maintain, with fewer moving parts than diesel engines, and there is no need to refuel throughout the day. He finds the pre- and post-trip checks are nearly identical but without concerns about fuel levels or emissions. Plus, the electric bus drives almost effortlessly.
“Oh, it’s smooth,” Burch said, likening the experience to driving a “big electric golf cart.” The learning curve is minor: his main adjustments are monitoring battery levels on longer routes and adjusting to the feel of a steady, almost silent engine. “It’s second nature now,” he explained.
Driving the electric bus has become “second nature,” Burch said.
Thanks to the EPA’s Clean School Bus Program, Savannah-Chatham is one of several Georgia school districts with electric buses on the road. Funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law (BIL), the Clean School Bus Program aims to replace existing school buses with zero-emission buses. Savannah-Chatham was awarded $9.8 million to purchase 25 electric buses and build a charging station next to the school bus yard.
Lanetta Mills, Executive Director of Transportation at the Savannah-Chatham County Public School System (SCCPSS), said taking advantage of the Clean School Bus Program was a win for students, staff, and the community.
“Not only is it a win for healthier lungs but electric buses are expected to cost less than diesel vehicles over time due to lower maintenance and operating expenses,” Mills said, noting that electric buses “produce cleaner air for students, bus drivers, school staff working near bus loading areas, and people living in communities that buses drive through each day.”
Like any transition, electrifying their fleet has come with challenges. The buses arrived before the charging station was constructed, and the cost of the build ultimately surpassed the EPA funding. Luckily, Savannah-Chatham’s fleet director had prior experience in implementing electric vehicles. Now, Mills said other school districts turn to SCCPSS for guidance on applying for the Clean School Bus Program, selecting vendors, and streamlining the electrification process.
Students notice more than just quieter rides and cleaner air. The electric bus is more comfortable, offering extra legroom and seat capacity. Burch said students are excited by the change from the diesel buses they’ve known.
“Oh, they love it,” Burch said. “If I have to put this in the shop or something, then they upset because they got to ride on the gas bus. It’s comfortable for them.”
The electric bus offers students more leg room in addition to a calmer, healthier ride.
Burch’s new electric school bus does more than provide students with a new ride — it introduces students to a cleaner, healthier future. By electrifying its fleet, Savannah-Chatham Schools has exemplified what it means to be part of the Clean Energy Generation, a movement of people of all ages and backgrounds tackling the climate crisis. With initiatives like the Clean School Bus Program, the goal is clear: to make electric school buses and cleaner air the new standard for generations to come.
Join the Clean Energy Generation
Regardless of who we are, where we come from, or our unique skills, we can make a difference by working together for a safer, healthier future. We invite you to join the Clean Energy Generation, share resources with your community, and connect with others across the Southeast committed to clean energy. Together, we’re creating a brighter, sustainable future for all.
Join the Clean Energy Generation
There’s good news for districts interested in following Savannah-Chatham’s lead: a new round of funding is now available through the Clean School Bus Rebate Program. School districts have until January 9, 2025, to apply for funding. Burch and his students are already experiencing the benefits — with continued investment, electric buses like his could become the new norm for schools everywhere.
The post Ride On the Electric School Bus appeared first on SACE | Southern Alliance for Clean Energy.
Weather Guard Lightning Tech
Australia’s $17B Grid Expansion, Recycling Blades to Steel
Allen covers Suzlon hitting 2 GW in a single Indian state, Nabrawind’s crane-free turbine install in Namibia, Antora’s South Dakota thermal battery, Australia’s $17 billion grid expansion, and Shimizu recycling old turbine blades into steel.
Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard’s StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes’ YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us!
GOOD MORNING.
The wind industry is not just getting bigger.
It is getting smarter.
And today … we have the proof.
Let us start in India.
SUZLON GROUP just crossed a milestone.
Two gigawatts of wind orders … in a single Indian state.
The latest deal … sixty-five turbines at three megawatts each
for a company called SUNSURE ENERGY.
SUNSURE is not a utility.
It is an independent power producer
building round-the-clock clean energy
for data centers … electric vehicles … and heavy industry.
Wind paired with solar and battery storage.
Power that does not stop when the sun goes down.
SUZLON is already building six hundred and sixty-four megawatts
of additional commercial and industrial projects in the same region.
And SUNSURE … backed by PARTNERS GROUP of Switzerland …
has seven gigawatts in development across India
with a target of ten gigawatts by two thousand thirty.
That is not government-led.
That is private capital chasing wind.
Now … across the ocean to Africa.
A Spanish company called NABRAWIND [NAH-brah-wind]
just solved a problem that has plagued remote wind farms for years.
How do you install a turbine
when you cannot get a crane to the site?
Their answer is a system called SKYLIFT.
No heavy-lift cranes. None.
A self-erecting tower combined with a blade installation tool
they call the BLADERUNNER.
They just put up a GOLDWIND six-megawatt turbine
at a wind farm in NAMIBIA.
And here is the part that changes the math.
Traditional crane installation needs calm air.
Six to eight meters per second. Maximum.
NABRAWIND’s system works in fifteen meters per second sustained …
with gusts up to twenty.
That site blows hard. All the time.
Which is exactly why they chose it.
When complete … seven turbines …
two hundred and thirty gigawatt-hours a year.
About six percent of NAMIBIA’s entire electricity demand.
NABRAWIND was acquired by Australia’s FORTESCUE last year
as part of its industrial decarbonization push.
So India is stacking private-sector wind orders.
Africa is installing turbines without cranes.
And in SOUTH DAKOTA …
they are storing the wind itself.
A California startup called ANTORA ENERGY
just built a five-gigawatt-hour thermal battery
at an ethanol plant in BIG STONE CITY.
More than two hundred solid carbon blocks.
When the wind blows at night and nobody needs the power …
the blocks absorb cheap electricity and heat up.
When the plant needs energy …
the blocks release heat or generate electricity
through special cells that capture light
from superheated material.
Think of it as a giant toaster oven battery.
Full power expected by October.
The plant’s president put it simply.
Nobody has got a switch for the wind.
It blows when it wants to blow.
Now … down under.
The AUSTRALIAN government just announced
the biggest single expansion of its electricity grid.
Nineteen renewable energy projects.
Seven-point-eight gigawatts of generation.
Seven-point-nine gigawatt-hours of battery storage.
Seventeen billion dollars in private investment.
Nineteen thousand construction jobs.
Power for four million homes.
Among the largest … RWE’s [arr-vay’s] THEODORE wind farm in QUEENSLAND.
One-point-one gigawatts. Up to one hundred and seventy turbines.
Three billion Australian dollars.
RWE … the same company building offshore wind
in England and Denmark …
is now building onshore in AUSTRALIA.
And the AUSTRALIAN government is not stopping.
They just opened the next round of tenders.
Another five gigawatts.
Finally … JAPAN.
Major contractor SHIMIZU [shee-MEE-zoo] CORPORATION
has developed a way to recycle old wind turbine blades.
Not into park benches. Not into landfill.
Into steel.
The blades are cut and crushed into a material
that goes into electric furnaces
to adjust the carbon content of steel …
making it harder and stronger.
JAPAN expects to replace one hundred to two hundred turbines a year
by the two thousand thirties.
That is two to three thousand tonnes of blade waste. Annually.
SHIMIZU has built about twenty percent
of the wind power facilities in JAPAN.
They see this technology as a way to grow
their entire wind energy business.
So … let us step back.
India stacks two gigawatts of private-sector wind orders.
Africa installs turbines in gale-force winds … without a crane.
South Dakota stores surplus wind in superheated carbon blocks.
Australia backs nineteen projects with seventeen billion dollars.
And Japan turns old blades into stronger steel.
From the factory floor to the scrap yard …
from the wind farm to the furnace …
the industry is solving problems
at every stage of a turbine’s life.
And that’s the state of the wind industry for the 25th of May 2026.
Join us for the UPTIME WIND ENERGY PODCAST tomorrow.
We’ve all heard ideas like the one being expressed here, though this one sounds extreme. Jail sentence? Education is exclusively an exercise in pounding in bad habits?
What’s the outcome for students in the very worst of our schools that make no attempt whatsoever to help its pupils learn to think critically? Well, their kids learn to:
- Read and write
- Do math, at least through algebra
- Understand some level of history and geography
- Make friends and get along with others
- Establish independence from the parents
- Gain the qualifications for employment
What’s the alternative? Illiteracy? Social isolation? Child labor? Poverty? Neurotic sloth? Being a burden on society?
Is it a coincidence that the countries with the best educated children are the happiest, sanest and most productive nations on the planet?
If you’re a competent woman working at the highest echelon in the U.S. government, better start packing your bags.
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