A $2.5 million state grant will let Lynx convert all 290 buses and four support vehicles to cleaner-burning biodiesel fuel.
It also will allow the agency to run a blending station that will serve the diesel fleets of Orange County and Orlando Utilities Commission. That partnership between agencies will be a national first, Lynx officials said.
"It's what we want to do to do our part in the community," said Lisa Darnall, chief operating officer for the bus agency.
The blending process, scheduled to start in early 2009, will produce a fuel that is 80 percent petroleum-based diesel and 20 percent from plant-derived oils. As a result, the three agencies will use 1.2 million gallons less of regular diesel annually.
About 800,000 of those diesel gallons would have been burned by Lynx, which operates mainly in Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties with some service to Lake, Volusia and Polk.
Using less diesel will allow Lynx to meet Gov. Charlie Crist's goal of a 10 percent reduction of greenhouse gas by government groups by 2012.