Idling wastes fuel and pollutes our air:
While some vehicle idling is unavoidable, such as at stoplight and in traffic congestion, most drivers end up voluntarily idling their vehicles at various times—in drive-through lines, waiting to pick-up passengers, while stopped to talk on the phone, etc. Voluntarily idling adds up to 5-10 minutes a day on average for typical drivers, and light-duty vehicles use between 0.3 and 0.75 gallons of gas hour of idling. Consequently, most drivers end up wasting one to two tankfuls of fuel per year idling.
One minute of idling produces more carbon monoxide than the smoke from 3 packs of cigarettes.
Vehicle idling has been identified in the Denver metro area and elsewhere as a significant source of air pollution. An idling vehicle produces about 4.8 grams of carbon monoxide per minute while idling. For comparison, there is about 67mg of carbon monoxide in the smoke from one cigarette--that means that one minute of idling produces more carbon monoxide than the smoke from 3 packs of cigarettes.
In the Denver Metro Area idling is responsible for an estimated 40,000 tons of harmful air pollution a year and 400,000 tons of CO2 emissions--the result of over 40 million gallons of fuel wasted while idling, costing area residences and businesses over $100 million dollars a year.
You can help take care of Denver’s air—and save fuel and money at the same time:
Most drivers end up wasting one to two entire tankfuls of fuel per year idling.
Turn your engine off, even for stops less than a minute (when not in traffic):
Many drivers mistakenly hold the belief that it uses more fuel to restart an engine than it does to idle. In reality, for cars with fuel injection (which includes almost all vehicles build since the late 1980s) idling for even 10 seconds uses more than restarting the engine.
Even from a solely financial perspective it is worth turning the engine off for short stops: 30-45 seconds has been found to be the point at which the fuel savings from turning the engine off outweighs the possibility of minimal additional cost from minor wear on the starter and battery from frequent restarting. This opinion is supported by Ford Motor Company, which recommends drivers “turn the engine off when stopped for more than 30 seconds to save fuel and reduce exhaust emission,” and that “frequent restarting has little impact on components that include the battery and starter motor.”
Modern engines only need to warm up for about 30 seconds on cold days:
Ford Motor Company recommends drivers “turn the engine off when stopped for more than 30 seconds to save fuel and reduce exhaust emission.”
Idling is a slow and ineffective way to warm up your engine. Furthermore, idling your car for several minutes before driving creates extra air pollution, since your car's catalytic converter is not effective at reducing the pollution in your car's exhaust until it is sufficiently hot--generally only after driving a few minutes. The best approach is to only idle for 30 seconds or so, and then just drive gently for the first few miles. And whatever you do, don’t leave your car running unattended: during the winter months, thieves are on the lookout for cars left idling in drive ways and at convenience stores—all they have to do is get in and drive away!
