To idle or not?
By Beth Daley, Globe Staff
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency fined Allied Waste Services of Massachusetts $195,000 today for letting 60 diesel-powered garbage trucks idle in four truck depots.
By now, diesel-powered truck owners should have gotten the message: Turn the vehicle off when it’s not in use to prevent nasty pollutants from entering the air that can cause or aggravate asthma, heart disease and other respiratory problems.
Are they idling? (Globe photo) |
But did you know keeping the car or SUV on while waiting for kids after school or at the mall is also a climate no-no? Diesel pollution isn’t the problem – global warming pollution is. But I see people all the time idling at the drive-through coffee pick-up line, near sports events, at long lights and even when they run into a convenience store to pick up a gallon of milk.
Part of the habit is understandable – it can be cold out or you may think the person you are picking up may appear any second. I used to think that I would be holding up traffic if I turned off the engine at a particularly familiar long light – or damage the engine from all the off-on switching.
According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, many of these are myths.
Yes, engines did need time to warm up in the 1970s, but fuel-injection vehicles which have been the norm since the mid-1980s can be restarted often without engine damage. They need no more than 30 seconds to warm up even on winter days. And stopping at long lights can actually save gas – and not waste time.
Consumer Reports suggests drivers turn off engines if they expect to sit for more than 30 seconds.
Do you idle? Will you stop?
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Yes, idling is evil, ignorant., selfish, poorly understood, etc, etc. However, you are not allowed to turn off your car at a red light - if you are on the road, your engine must be engaged !
I've even seen people idling at the gas station while they fill up their tanks! Thanks to Betsy (#1) for the reminder not to turn off your engine while you're in traffic, but DO turn it off when you are parked -- period!
Betsy (#1): please explain. You say turning engines off at red lights isn't allowed. But by whom or what? Is that a Mass law or regulation? Curious to know, thank you.
F-that! When I am in my H2, I want to be comfortable. That bad boy is on and the AC is running. If anybody ever shut their engine off at a light or a Dunkin' Donuts drive-thru and I was behind them I would run right over them when the light turned or they didn't move fast enough.
This global warming is just a bunch of hot air!!!!
Here in MA, I believe it's actually illegal to let your engine idle for longer than 5 minutes when parked.
1. It uses more gasoline to idle for 10 seconds than it does to turn the engine on and off again.
2. When you are idling, you are getting zero miles to the gallon.
3. Idling while picking up children from school is very harmful to children's health. Children are more impacted by air pollution and exhaust fumes because they breathe more frequently than adults, intake 50% more air per pound than adults and therefore 50% more air pollution.
4. An idling car emits 20 times the amount of air pollution than one traveling at 30 mph….because it is running so inefficiently.
Check out the website of the Mass Lung Association.
Turn the key...be idle free!
I'm so glad anti-idling is being enforced by the EPA. What a success! And it actually is illegal to idle an engine unnecessarily in Massachusetts for more than five minutes (Mass. General Laws, Chapter 90, Section 16A), but I don't think it's enforced much. Lenox, MA is an idle-free town--wouldn't it be great if Mass. became an idle-free state??
The law in MA says you cannot idle unecessarily for more than 5 minutes. There are exceptions (e.g. if the engine is needed to power auxiliary equipment being used).
The idling behavior is mostly habit. The car next to me at the Radiohead concert last night idled for the 1 hour 45 minutes; the driver burned a lot of gas for no good reason. I turned my mini van on a few times to move forward, kept it mostly turned it off, listened to tunes, opened the window for the balmy weather.
H2 lover: You ignorant SOB. What's it like to have such a small brain? Why don't you drive that piece of crap of a dock and see how it works as a submarine like in the commercial?
Beth Daley of the Globe Staff should learn how to present both sides when writing a column. I would suggest she re-take her journalism classes.
While the goal is laudable, there are lots of reasons why we should NOT turn off the car. Betsy brought up the point that it could be unsafe under certain traffic conditions. Beth should not have brushed aside the inconvienence caused by idling. What if it is very hot outside? Should I let myself and others with me be exposed to very warm temperatures? This could kill older drivers.
She states that many of the objections are myths. But she provides no definitive list of these objections (only a few select points) nor does she clarify which are myths are which are not. And what credentials does the "Union of Concern Scientists" have regarding this subject? I can't even tell who they are, how about something from one of the car manufacturers on this topic? I'm not going to take automotive advice from marine biologists, I would rather trust an automotive engineer. For that matter, I would trust the guy who changes my cars oil over someone with only a PhD in Marine biology on this matter. How about some references to more information?
If I'm at a light that i know is long...up to 3 minutes at some..i shut my car off. You just need to be ready to go when the light changes.
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.
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