Idling Reduction: An Easy Way to Reduce Air Pollution from Vehicles

摘要

Idling vehicles consume an estimated total of 6 billion gallons of fuel annually at a cost of $20 billion and generate about 60 million tons of CO_2 and criteria pollutants every year. Many approaches to reducing vehicular pollution involve new, expensive technology and require the need to wait for significant market penetration before the technology is cost-effective. Idling reduction, however, is a low-hanging fruit; benefits can be realized rapidly with existing vehicles, and the cost is either zero or recouped quickly with fuel savings.