By Francis Koster, Ed.D.  The Gaston County school system has
developed a program to generate biodiesel for its bus fleet. 
This program converts enough waste vegetable oil from the school
cafeteria and other sources to fuel all of its buses.  By
converting the buses to run on biodiesel, air pollution is
reduced, money is saved and jobs are secured.   In 2005 the
sixth largest school system in North Carolina began running its
school buses on biodiesel generated by the school system.    The
first year of operation they were able to make 10,000 gallons of
biodiesel.  Two years later their facility was producing 500
gallons per day. [10]     Cost Savings and Pollution Control
The Gaston County school system is able to produce biodiesel for
$0.60 per gallon.  The  buses travel 11,000 miles every day. 
Consequently the school system is able to save over $300,000 per
year [1] [2]  In addition to cost savings, the biodiesel program
is an effective way of reducing air pollution.  Petroleum based
diesel emits variou