Formerly Clean Calgary Association

Green Calgary

Tips

Oct
15
2007

Help to stop idling and idling myths

Filed in: Air Quality, Transportation
  • Idling for 10 seconds uses more fuel than restarting your engine.
  • Frequently turning off and restarting a vehicle has little impact on a vehicle’s battery or starter motor. Component wear caused by restarting an engine adds little to annual repair costs – and can be recovered several times over in fuel savings from reduced idling.
  • Idling produces more emissions per minute than driving.
  • Driving is the best way to heat up your engine. A vehicle’s catalytic converter needs to be hot (400 to 800 degrees Celsius) before it can effectively clean pollutants from its exhaust.
  • Traffic areas around schools – where vehicles are often left idling – often show significantly higher pollution levels outside – and inside – their buildings.
  • Calgary has the highest transportation-generated carbon dioxide emissions of any city in Canada.

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