Hi All,
The City of Charleston Green Committee is presenting its "Green Plan" for sustainable practices and greenhouse gas reduction to city council for adoption on December 15th. The education subcommittee is exploring different initiatives to begin implementation. One suggested initiative is to encourage motorists to shut their engines while waiting at school pickups etc. CBSM has good examples of strategies that have worked(prompts & commitment), but data was asked for regarding misconceptions of the benefit of shutting off engines. For example is there negative impact to the engine with frequent engine shut offs, or air quality benefits only take place if engine is shut after 10 minutes etc. Could I get feedback on facts regarding these type of concerns as well as references for where the information was obtained. Thanks so much!
Peter Zalka
Charleston Green Committee
Charleston, SC
Peter Zalka
United States
Transportation Data Request
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Peter,
Washington's Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (www.pscleanair.org) might be able to provide data. They have a "No-Idle Zone" program for schools citing direct impact to children's health, which parents might be even more concerned about than wear and tear on the car. But PSCAA also says "Excessive idling is also hard on your engine because it isnt working at peak operating temperature. Fuel doesnt undergo complete combustion, leaving spark plugs dirty and contaminating engine oil. Modern engines need no more than 30 seconds of idling on winter days before starting to drive. In fact, idling for long periods in cold weather can actually cause excessive engine wear."
Also, the Texas Transportation Institute is a good source for transportation related data and might have something you can use. http://tti.tamu.edu/
Tina Hokanson
Snohomish County, WA
Public Works Communications
Tina Hokanson
Communications Specialist
Snohomish County Public Works
United States
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection developed an Idling Reduction Tool Kit for Municipalities to use to eductate residents, schools and businesses in April 2008 which you can find at http://www.mass.gov/dep/air/community/depirkit.pdf. They have done quite a bit of research on the benefits of idle reduciton and I am sure could answer many of your questions. The PDF says "Please contact Jason Davis at MassDEP at 617-292-5648 if you have questions or need assistance with your idling reduction program."
Ann Dorfman
United States
Peter:
SC DHEC has the Breathe Better program which involves students creating an anti-idling campaign at their school. I am also working on an anti-idling initiative the general public and business owners in the Tri-County Region in partnership with DHEC. I've just signed up to work on the Green Committee's Education Sub-Committee, so we may be working together in the future. I, too, have been searching for scientific data that talks about the negative effects of idling on a vehicle engine.
I did find this technical report but it deals with diesel trucks: http://www.entrepreneur.com/tradejournals/article/154060601.html
I also found this report: http://www.ehhi.org/reports/exhaust/exhaust06.pdf
but it talks more to the health impacts than to actual experimental data on vehicles.
If you find technical data, I'd be interested in it as well. I've been trying to look at universities to see if they've published any data on idling effects on vehicles, but have not had success thus far.
Good Luck!
Wendy Wicke
Senior Environmental Specialist
Charleston County
United States
Hi Peter. On the NRCan website, it states that modern engines use as much fuel in 10 seconds of idling as it does to turn off and restart. However, if the owner had concerns about starter wear, the time frame would be 60 seconds to offset any possible costs incurred due to frequent restarting.
http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/idling/wastes.cfm?attr=8
Tanya Canam
DriveWiseR - Program Officer
Clean Nova Scotia
Canada