June 28, 2022

Climate Change and Idling Cars, What’s the Connection?

Will Turning Off Your Car Save the Planet?

Eliminating the unnecessary idling of personal vehicles would be the same as taking 5 million vehicles off the roads. – US Department of Energy

When climate change comes up in conversation, there’s bound to be a mixed reaction. One person may seek to brush it off, saying things like, “I think everything is fine,” and, “that kind of thing won’t happen.” Alternately another person might say, “It is vastly concerning, and we need to focus on solutions as soon as possible.” Within both groups, each individual would likely own a car, and climate change is propelled by pollutants – like the exhaust from a running vehicle.

The United Nations defines climate change as “long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. These shifts may be natural, such as through variations in the solar cycle. But, since the 1800s, human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas.” Given this definition, it is easy to see how fuel-burning cars offer no respite to climate change and are, in fact, major contributors to the problem. And, it stands to reason that fewer pollutants would enter our atmosphere if drivers were to turn off their engines while stationary.

The US Department of Energy has a lot of information available on this topic, such as:

• Idling reduces a vehicle’s fuel economy, costs money, and creates pollution.
• Idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more emissions that contribute to smog and climate change than stopping and restarting the engine does.
• Today’s gasoline and diesel vehicles do not suffer damage by being turned on and off.

Private incentives are offered nationwide and state incentives are available in 39 states. Concurrently, idle laws targeting or including passenger vehicles are active in 27 states. Of course, we know that human activity is the root cause of pollution, and the surest path toward a sustainable future is to slow, halt, and eventually reverse population growth. Alongside this goal, we can also effect change by examining our daily activities and eliminating damage-causing practices whenever possible – like turning off our cars when we will be idle for more than 10 seconds (not in traffic!) or even choosing to walk. Data illustrates that these small changes make an impact, even if we cannot immediately see the difference. Final verdict: turning off our cars may not be enough to save the planet, but it would certainly help.

To learn more about idle laws and incentives in your area, click here.

To read more about population issues, click here.