I’m very annoyed when I pick my son up from his Boy Scout meeting and see a row of idling minivans with drivers listening to their radios. They could turn the key to the accessory position and listen all they want without burning gas or drawing down the charge in the battery.
It wouldn’t bother me so much in times of bad weather when they need the heater or air-conditioning, but when the weather is fine, why don’t they park and get out and chat and get to know the other parents?
I’m often tempted to tap on somebody’s window, or hold up my hand for them and pantomime a turning-off-the-key movement. But when I do, I get a little scared that somebody’s going to come out and punch me, or that the person will be hurt by the intrusion. It’s a problem that we take these things so personally, considering it a breach of privacy.
But if the average driver idles five minutes every day, and that five minutes burns as much gas as one minute of driving, then as a nation we could save 3 million gallons of gasoline per day.
We used to wonder if we saved gas by turning off our cars at a railroad stop or a red light. But now that fuel injection has replaced carburetors, idling is definitely contra-indicative. In fact, we might find it helpful to learn from professional drivers or smart truckers, as well as agencies and businesses that depend on transportation.
UPS, Inc. has the largest fleet of vehicles on U.S. roads, and they’re as thrifty with their fuel as they are with their time (we’ve all seen the drivers hustle up to the door for a quick signature). They turn off the engine, no matter how brief their absence.
When you look into their business, you see a mix of high tech options in the fleet. For example, that natural gas you’ve been hearing about from T. Boone Pickens is in use in almost a thousand UPS delivery vehicles across the U.S. and electric vehicles are being used in New York City.
But when you look at the big semi burning diesel fuel, there’s room for improvement. Wal-Mart has a fleet of nearly 10,000 vehicles across the country, and that means a lot of soot during idling.
Argonne National Laboratory estimates that a single truck idling 1,890 hours per year emits 20 tons of carbon dioxide, 420 pounds of carbon monoxide, and 250 pounds of nitrous oxides. Now, some states have mandated idling time limits for commercial haulers. California set the time at five minutes.
A company named IdleAire, Inc. has a novel approach. It’s been moving into truck stops looking for drivers who want to save fuel and wear-and-tear on the engine. After hooking up to an alternating current power source, via a drop-down overhead truss, operators can turn off their engines and draw power through the window for heat, air conditioning, television, the Internet and anything else on the console display.
Such strategies reward us with wide-awake drivers and safer roads.
Also encouraging is news that over the last ten years, 18-wheelers have increased mileage from 4 to nearly 8 miles per gallon, according to a teacher at the local community college where drivers are trained.
He points out that the improvement is due first to better aerodynamics (you’ve noticed those smooth fluid lines the newer rigs exhibit), and second, improved emissions with more efficient burning, and third, gearing — shifting at lower revolutions per minute for less impact on the motor.
So if the designers, and the drivers, and the teachers can learn and improve, let’s not be behind the wave. There’s a lot of places to go; let’s get there wisely. Because we’re all drawing from the same sources, remember that the guy who doesn’t mind wasting his gas is also wasting your gas.
– James Gavin
former Long Beach resident
Orefield, Penn.
