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Category: Transportation
31
2011
Get your School to go Idle-Free!
Filed in: Air Quality, TransportationTragically, one of the most common places to find idling cars is outside of schools. Parents and guardians, waiting to drop off or pick up their children, unwittingly release over 40 harmful toxins into the air in and around the school. This means that many of the air pollutants being released every day in the city are concentrated around the people most easily affected by it: children.
29
2011
Ride your Bike!
Filed in: Air Quality, TransportationMany people are nervous about starting to bike commute to and from work, so why not ease into it by taking your bike somewhere like the grocery store or the movies- see how you like it and go from there.
16
2009
Sign up to be Idle Free
Filed in: Air Quality, TransportationAlthough most people realize that engine exhaust decreases outdoor air quality, they probably do not realize that an idling engine actually releases more harmful emissions than an engine does during driving!
15
2008
Take your bike
Filed in: Transportation- Many people are nervous about taking their bikes to the grocery store or to the movies. Try taking your bike somewhere you normally wouldn’t this month and see how you like it.
- Though the amount of cars in the world has grown substantially in the past twenty years, the number of bikes has risen more quickly!
- Biking can get you where you’re going faster; especially if it is less than three kilometers.
- If you have a car 1995 or older, trade it in to Car Heaven for a $300 bike credit. Check out www.carheaven.ca for details.
18
2008
Choose to Walk
Filed in: Transportation- Transportation is Canada’s largest single source of greenhouse gas emissions.
- Calgary has the highest transportation-generated carbon dioxide emissions of any city in Canada.
- Every year an estimated three million people die and an even greater number suffer serious health effects from air pollution, primarily respiratory diseases, asthma and cardiovascular disease.
- This mortality figure represents about 5% of the total 55 million deaths that occur annually in the world.
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.