Turn Your Engine Off...Every Minute Counts For The Planet

On a recent trip to New Hampshire  I came across this "Turn your engine off" sign.  I was pretty impressed. I know you shouldn't idle to waste gas, but what are all the repercussions of idling your car or truck? 

Sure you think it's just going to be a minute and perhaps you don't want to turn off the radio, the AC or the heat. So what's the harm in idling a bit?

Well, according to an article by the Hinkle Charitable Foundation: Each day, Americans waste approximately 3.8 million gallons of gasoline by voluntarily idling their cars. While all idling is bad for the car engine, this addresses only voluntary idling, which occurs when the car is not actually being driven in traffic.  

That's a lot of gasoline at a big cost for idlers as well as the planet. 

It seems that people are confused about this issue. Perhaps because many of us remember riding in or driving older cars that needed to warm up. Perhaps we just held on to bad habits. Whatever our reasons are, Here are a few myths you might be wondering about when it comes to idling your car:

Myth 1: Cars should run in an idling mode for several minutes before being driven.

Wrong. Modern engines do not need more than a few seconds of idling time before they can be driven safely.

Myth 2: Each time you start your car you waste more gasoline than if you let it idle.

Wrong. Automotive engines do not operate efficiently when they idle

Myth 3: Repeatedly restarting your car is hard on the engine and quickly drains the battery.

Wrong. Frequently restarting your engine does negligible damage to the engine and does not drain modern

batteries excessively.

Now with that said, what are the benefits of turning off that engine? 

Personal Benefits:

Most voluntary idling is pure waste. It wastes gasoline, and therefore money, impairs the operating efficiency of our cars,

and emits additional greenhouse gases. 

Environmental Benefits:
Voluntary idling is one of the many daily actions that seem negligible but that, when taken cumulatively, can have a large impact on total emissions of carbon dioxide and on the environment more generally .

Just take a look at this chart from the US (imagine the whole world?):

If you want to know all the facts behind idling your car and the environmental impact on the planet check out this article. 

Kudos to New Hampshire! 

Every state and every country should start similar campaigns. It may awaken all of us from being idle.

My mother was right, being idle is a bad thing!

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