MORGANTOWN -- World leaders are talking the talk, this week about lowering carbon emissions. West Virginia University has been walking the walking for almost 20 years helping trucks and buses lower emissions.

The Center for Alternative Fuels, Engines, and Emissions (CAFFE) includes a laboratory on wheels, and it rolled out Tuesday morning to a five week assignment in Florida assessing bio-diesel buses in Orlando.

"We're able to drive the bus or truck onto the rollers and load it as if it was being driven on the road," said Nigel Clark, the research director and WVU engineering professor, "and then we're able to take the exhaust and measure the constituents in the exhaust."

CAFEE's lab is the only one of its kind in the world, and after 18 years of research, it now needs to detect even smaller traces of carbon emissions in studies.

"Most people think about diesel as putting out black smoke and particulate matter," Clark said. "We are down by a factor of 100 as compared to the late 80s."

In this trip, the lab will compare emissions from 12 new bio-diesel buses with those from a regular diesel bus.

"Our research has significant implications throughout the United States, not just in Florida itself, but perhaps even in an area like West Virginia," said CAFEE Director Chris Atkinson.

The lab has traveled across the country, testing buses, trucks, trains, and even ships. It's helped prove that big engines can run effectively while emitting less carbon.

"The work that they're doing is paving the way for the introduction of alternative fuels," Atkinson said before the lab pulled away. "And as you can imagine, most of these fuels are domestically produced, with bio-diesel or natural gas. The implication is that it moves us further away from dependence on expensive foreign oil is very important to our work."

The researchers, which include graduate students will have a busy New Year. After returning from Florida, they'll head to Washington, D.C., and California, where CAFFE will test hydro-electric and natural gas fuels.