Note: The replacement name for the Stupid Tip of the Day series of articles has not yet been chosen; and you can still choose which name is the best replacement.
The dining areas of restaurants have generally been closed throughout much of the current 2019 Novel Coronavirus pandemic; and for dining establishments to survive, they have had to be creative and offer other services — such as take-out, delivery, curbside, and drive thru…
Stupid Tip of the Day: Do Not Idle Your Vehicle For Greater Than 10 Seconds
…but motorists often leave their vehicles running when they decide to use the drive thru service — and wait times of two minutes to 15 minutes are not unusual.
If you find yourself using the drive thru of a business establishment, ensure that you turn off your vehicle if you know that it will be idle — that is, having your engine on while not moving — for at least ten seconds. Beyond that point, your vehicle unnecessarily consumes more fuel — and thus produces a greater amount of emissions which contribute to smog and climate change — than stopping and restarting your engine does…
…and that ultimately reduces the fuel economy of your vehicle while simultaneously — and unnecessarily — costs you money and creates pollution.
“Researchers estimate that idling from heavy-duty and light-duty vehicles combined wastes about 6 billion gallons of fuel annually”, according to this document from the Department of Energy of the United States. “About half of that is attributable to personal vehicles, which generate around 30 million tons of CO2 every year just by idling. While the impact of idling may be small on a per-car basis, the impact of the 250 million personal vehicles in the U.S. adds up. For saving fuel and reducing emissions, eliminating the unnecessary idling of personal vehicles would be the same as taking 5 million vehicles off the roads.”
Some jurisdictions even have laws against unnecessarily idling vehicles with which the motorist may be subject to paying a fine — including in:
- Hawaii
- New York City and other parts of New York state
- Massachusetts
- Maryland
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey
- Vermont
- Parts of other states — including:
- California
- Colorado
- Ohio
- Utah
Summary
Contrary to popular belief, restarting your vehicle does not consume more fuel than leaving it idling — especially with the technological advances which vehicles are now equipped as opposed to vehicles which were manufactured decades ago.
Ensuring that you turn off your vehicle when it will be idle for greater than ten seconds could save you as much as 20 percent on the cost of fuel while simultaneously helping to keep the air cleaner of pollution.
All photographs ©2011, ©2014 and ©2017 by Brian Cohen.
