The story behind white-topped school buses

Some students have headed back to school already, while summertime heat peaks. An unassuming detail on school buses is helping ease the heat. Yellow school buses may be iconic throughout the United States, but those with white roofs are adding an extra layer of insulation -- and visibility -- to school buses.

According to the New York Times archives, white-topped school buses were first used in California around 50 years ago. Over time, other states in the Northeast started using them. A study took place in North Carolina in 1992 to determine the relationship between roof color and inside temperatures.

School buses wait to pick up children outside a school Wednesday, May 16, 2012, in Hampton, Ga. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

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As part of the study, thermometers were planted in county school buses and readings were taken four times per day from August to December. The buses were tested while running and while parked. Buses with white tops dropped interior temperatures an average of 10 degrees Fahrenheit during the summer, with as much as a 17-degree difference at peak hours. In the winter, temperatures only differed by 3 to 4 degrees.

The study’s findings are in line with research at Berkeley Lab’s Environmental Energy Technologies Division published in 2011. That study found that white, silver and other light-colored cars are the coolest, reflecting about 60% of sunlight. Interestingly, some dark “cool colors” that reflect primarily in the “near-infrared” part of the solar spectrum, can also stay cooler than darker cars, according to the study.

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Aside from lower temperatures, William Turner, an assistant superintendent for transportation at Brunswick County Schools in North Carolina, told the Times that his office received dozens of calls that the white-topped buses were easier to spot from a distance, which could improve safety.

As a result of the program, North Carolina school systems were given the option to specify white tops when ordering buses. The white-roofed buses cost an extra few hundred dollars, according to the Times’ archives.

Children aboard cooler buses also reportedly behaved better. And the drivers preferred those, too. "It seems like the kids are a lot calmer," Margaret Hughes, a bus driver, told the Times.

It's not just school districts that have learned this lesson. USA Today reports that UPS also paints their trucks' roofs white to cut down on cooling costs inside the vehicle.

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