Don't be idle · 19 May 07
Did you know if every driver of a light duty vehicle avoided idling by five minutes a day, collectively over the year, we would save 680 million litres of fuel, over 1.6 million tonnes of GHG emissions, and ~ $646 million annually in fuel costs.
Idling Myths and Facts:
- ‘I need to warm up the engine before driving’
The best way to warm up your car’s engine is to drive it. Even in the winter, most engines need no more than 30 seconds before driving.
- ‘Idling is good for the engine’
Excessive idling is actually damaging to the engine. If the engine is idling it isn’t working at its peak temperature and over time decreasing the sparkplugs efficiency and increasing fuel consumption as well as damaging the exhaust system.
- ‘Stopping and starting the engine too often is hard on it’
Studies show that frequent restarting of the vehicle has little impact on the engine parts. The wear on components that restarting the engine causes adds about $10 a year to the cost of driving.
Believe it or not, more than 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine. As a rule of thumb, if you’re going to stop for 10 seconds or more (except in traffic) turn the engine off. You’ll save money AND your vehicle won’t be producing harmful emissions while you are just sitting there.
(Thanks to Shanti for the facts.)
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