So I moved.
Out of the city, into the subs…heaven forbid right?
At first glance it’s not an ideal situation. But if you divulge into it a bit more, it doesn’t seem so bad. When I lived in the city, one major thing I looked at every day out my window is traffic, traffic, and more traffic; and at one of the most inefficient intersections in the city for that matter. After months of staring at this, I started questioning the notion of a car idling. Now I know in many cases people have no choice; if traffic happens it happens, and quite frankly there’s nothing that can be done about it. But for the rest of the possible scenarios, people aren’t aware of the environmental impact of their choices. I can’t say that I’m perfect and have never sat in my car idling for the sake of having the A/C on, but is it really worth it? What once seemed innocuous may actually be harming the earth, people’s health, and your wallet a lot more than you think.
To put it into perspective, each day Americans waste 3.8 million gallons of gasoline by idling their cars voluntarily. Voluntarily in this case refers to when a car is not being driven (being stuck in traffic doesn’t count here). These situations arise because there is this belief that turning your car on and off (in place of idling) will do one of three things: wear out the battery, wear out the starter and waste gas. Therefore it is easier to just leave the engine running. Contrary to popular belief, these are all MYTHS! The Hinkle Charitable Foundation states that, in response to these concerns;
Today, nearly every passenger vehicle engine (cars, SUVs, and pickups) uses electronic ignition and none of these three concerns exists any longer.
Natural Resources Canada states that the most common situations in which people idle are warming up a vehicle, drive thru’s, waiting to pick up someone, and stopping to talk and running an errand. So now let’s try and rethink some of these situations. When people turn their cars on prematurely to warm them up, there is a misconception that the engine will wear out quicker if it’s not heated up properly. Fact is that the best way to warm up your engine is to actually gently drive it; in cold weather the engine needs no more than 30 seconds before it is ready to go. Now drive-thru’s…the devil’s advocate. It’s easy to see how this is a sustainability no-no. For example, in the US the average idle time in a McDonalds drive-thru is approximately 159 seconds; that translates to 7.25 million gallons of gas each year (within the US). And that’s just McDonalds. If you take into account all the fast food restaurants in the United States, you will be reaching 50 million gallons of wasted gasoline; an extremely large figure for something that’s supposed to convenience the everyday consumer. Ironically the easier our lives become, the harder the earth has to work for us. There are counter-arguments that building a larger parking lot will leave a greater carbon footprint than the lifespan of a drive-thru (which is fair to think), therefore maybe the answer to this conundrum is simply brewing up a double-double at home from time to time and taking a travel-mug to go. And when you do need a Tim’s coffee, be conscious of your decisions at these fast food chains. 90% of the time I see a 10 minute lineup around the block when the lineup inside is minimal.
All the emissions and greenhouse gases add up in the long run. It is the main concern for most people but this doesn’t even begin to touch upon the heat island effect that idling contributes to. Have you ever been in the city and noticed this humid, muggy, hot, polluted cloud that just lingers at grade level in the downtown core? That would be the heat island effect…not pretty huh? Essentially what happens is many tall dark buildings absorb light and in turn emit heat. With nowhere to go, the heat lingers in between the narrow roads. It just so happens that cars are a large part of the problem because 80% of the fuel that vehicles burn turns into heat. For cars to be idling in traffic in the downtown core and generating all that heated pollution, you can imagine how muggy it can get. Heat Islands can do a lot more damage than just ruining your freshly washed clothes. The NOAA states that;
Perhaps the worst result of the heat island effect is the number of heat-related deaths. In the U.S., heat typically kills more people each year than tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and lightening put together.
So how can we change this? When it comes down to it it’s actually easy to make the more sustainable decision; if there is one thing that is on the earth’s side…it’s money. The cost conscious drivers will be glad to know that being environmentally responsible is in fact cheaper! Idling a car for just 10 minutes unnecessarily can waste up to 2/5ths of a litre of gas; but turning your car on and off (if you will be idling for more than 10 seconds) will only cost you $10 – $15 overall per year. And if you really want to hear something crazy…according to Sustainable America;
2 minutes of idling is equivalent to a mile of driving
At least when you’re driving you’re actually getting somewhere..
But all hope is not lost! The great thing about living in the 21st Century is that we have developed the technology to create cars that actually prevent gas guzzling idling. Meet the hybrid-electric vehicle. It includes the best of both worlds; the system being used all depends on the state the car is in. When the car is in motion it utilizes the gasoline engine, then when the car is stopped and idling the gasoline engine shuts off and the electric motor kicks in. This preserves fuel and therefore reduces greenhouse gas emissions. Batteries are further recharged by capturing the kinetic energy harvested through regenerative braking. The wonderful thing about these vehicles is that they are getting the spotlight in many store parking lots to promote sustainability. Stores such as IKEA promote the use of hybrid-electric vehicles by providing Low Emitting Fuel Efficient vehicle parking spots at the front of the store. 
The greatest thing in my opinion is that the government is actually taking action; in many municipalities within Ontario, idling is restricted to a 3-5 minute maximum with extremes in certain neighbourhoods of completely idle-free zones. It is important to take into account the possible consequences of our actions when our actions can potentially be lethal not only to the environment but to our immediate health as well.
For future use…be sustainable :)
Turn it off.
References:
http://www.thehcf.org/antiidlingprimer.html
http://www.austincc.edu/offices/environmental-stewardship/go-green/transportation/green-car
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/hybrid-car1.htm
http://sierraclub.typepad.com/mrgreen/2009/02/advice-about-recreational-eating-.html
http://www.npr.org/2012/09/04/160393303/as-temps-rise-cities-combat-heat-island-effect
Living Sustainably 
nice article about a pretty important issue!
Audi is working on some cool tech (like syncing with current traffic light control systems) to lower fuel emissions by turning off the car when it can predict you will be idling for an extended period of time. Was pretty interesting though a small impact compared to electric cars. You should check it out!
You should look into Tesla motors. Amazing electric car company, and they’ve made all their patents public.