Sunday Morning Blog

August 12, 2005

An Idle-Free Zone on Cape Cod?

[mood| unsure]

With the high temperatures the past several weeks, having no air conditioning at work has become a real issue. Our air conditioning consists of our back door, our side door and the front doors. Yesterday, we matched our highest indoor temperature at 86 degrees. Not so hot you say? It was a stifling, give-me-oxygen type of hot. The air is already so hot and damp that there is no chance for you to sweat – it just evaporates off of you. Either that, or it is just merging with the already saturated air (you become one with the humidity). It is like standing fully clothed in a bath while somebody takes a day long hot shower. Even your breathing becomes something you are aware of.

Anyway, I have digressed from the point I was attempting to get to. On numerous occasions in the past several weeks we have had to close our front doors due to noise and fumes coming from delivery vehicles left idling in our parking lot. This truck driver habit, and watching the gas guzzling S.U.V.'s idling in the Starbucks drive-thru every day now have me thinking. So, I use my favorite tool and do a Google search for “idle free.” It seems that, for whatever reason, Canada is way ahead of us in the effort to squash unnecessary vehicle idling. I came up with many great Canadian sites outlining efforts to educate the public and pass by-laws to reduce this expensive and dirty habit. Here are but a few of these:

http://www.greencarcongress.com/

http://www.best.bc.ca/programsAndServices/idlefree.html

http://www.cleanairpartnership.org/idle/index.php

http://www.mississauga.ca/portal/residents/idlefree

http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/transportation/idle-free-zone.cfm?attr=8

I think it is high time we get on the stick here with this issue. With fuel prices skyrocketing and air pollution at dangerous levels (Cape Cod often has the worst air quality in the country, as we did yesterday), we should be addressing this easily remedied problem. Companies with strict no-idling policies for their fleet vehicles see huge yearly fuel and maintenance savings, and the same applies to the average driver. It is as simple as turning your key to the off position and driving away immediately after starting your vehicle. Operating your vehicle under thirty to forty mph for the first few miles immediately after starting it is the most efficient way to warm modern vehicles – not idling for minutes in the driveway.

More to follow... I must get to work.

Posted by capecodcyclist at August 12, 2005 06:27 AM