While at the Green Living Show on Sunday (I got in free for participating in the Earth Run - finished in less than half an hour - and only bought organic shampoo and conditioner, which I was almost out of), I was approached by a young man of about nine. He wanted me to take the pledge, to take the pledge not to idle. I’ve already taken the pledge (not officially or anything), but I promised him I would pass it along. So I am.
He was from DADA - Dads Against Dirty Air - a grassroots group based in nearby Halton Region. The group hands out pledge cards asking people to pledge to stop idling and then pass the card on. By not idling you can help the earth and save money on fuel costs. At train crossings I turn off my engine and I never use drive-thrus (going in can be faster many times anyway!). For a lot of people driving is an inevitable fact of life, but doing it as efficiently as possible can lessen the guilt.
A few idling myths:
- Contrary to popular belief, idling is not an effective way to warm up a vehicle, even in cold weather. The best way to do this is to drive the vehicle. Driving a vehicle cuts warm-up times in half.
- Another common misconception is that it’s better to let an engine idle rather than to continually shut off and restart the vehicle. Component wear caused by restarting is estimated to add $10 per year to the cost of driving - this is money that can be recovered several times over in fuel savings from not idling.
- Excessive idling wastes more than $100 a year per vehicle, and generates needless greenhouse gas emissions.
- Idling produces more emissions per minute than driving.
Idling Rule of Thumb
If you are going to be parked for more than 10 seconds, turn off the engine. Ten seconds of idling can use more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it.
