Car idling is a nasty habit...
How many of you let your car idle while waiting for your morning cup 'o joe from the drive-thru window, waiting for your kids to get in the car after school, or waiting for the construction peeps to let you pass? Apparently, most of us will spend on average a total of fifteen minutes per day letting our cars idle and waste gas (not to mention our money) instead of shutting the car off. I've been known to let my car warm-up a bit for a few minutes on a winter morning before driving it -- but no more! By parking and walking into the places we normally drive-thru, turning your car off when waiting for someone or walking to pick up the kids we could each save $100 a year in fuel costs (over 2 billion gallons of fuel as a nation) and save the earth from further pollution. Amazingly, an idling car creates twice the emissions of a running auto. 
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-20-2008 @ 1:34PM
Jason said...
http://www.screamtobegreen.com/2007/11/idle-free-school-zones/
There are many school initiatives - most in Canada - to implement idle-free school zones. Parents come to the schools and sit their idling for upwards of 30min waiting for their children. Many believe this is a contributing factor to early childhood asthma and other respiratory illness. Children are more susceptible to these toxins than adults.
When I was in Germany in the early 1990's, they have their stoplights setup to start flashing when its going to turn green. This indicates that you can turn your engine back on.
Anyway - great post!
-Jason
http://www.screamtobegreen.com
Reply
3-20-2008 @ 2:18PM
Laura Malesich said...
Jason - thanks for your enthusiasm! I know the EPA has a new program to encourage school bus drivers to not idle either, keeping our children's health and future at the forefront of the argument. I like the flashing light idea!
http://www.epa.gov/cleanschoolbus/antiidling.htm