CMI: Efficient Vehicles part 1

Article 8 in a series that looks Princeton's Carbon Mitigation Initiative, which has proposed 15 carbon reduction strategies, in 4 broad categories, each of which could be scaled up to provide 1/7th the CO2 reduction necessary to stabilize the atmosphere.

Category 1: Efficiency and Conservation

Efficient Vehicles

One full wedge could be achieved if by 2054 we increase the fuel economy for 2 billion cars (four times the number currently on the road) from 30 to 60 mpg, with the fuel type and average miles driven (10,000/year) unchanged.

Campaign Against Engine Idling

Environmental Defense featured a story today about NJ's new "Stop the Soot" campaign against engine idling. A new law makes it a crime to idle a diesel engine for more than 3 minutes unless it is very cold or the vehicle is loading or unloading passengers--it is always unlawful to idle for more than 15 minutes. Here are some factoids about engine idling:

From the EPA:
Combined, truck and locomotive idling consumes over 1 billion gallons of diesel fuel annually. Long-duration truck idling consumes approximately 960 million gallons of diesel fuel annually and locomotive switcher idling consumes 60 million gallons of diesel fuel annually.

Long-duration truck idling emits 11 million tons of carbon dioxide, 180,000 tons of nitrogen oxides, and 5,000 tons of particulate matter annually. For detailed information about idling nitrogen oxide emissions view EPA's Study on Long-Duration Truck Idling, above.

From the Natural Resources Canada:

Health impacts of idling

Carbon dioxide is only one by-product of fuel combustion – the vehicles Canadians drive every day also generate other toxic substances that are fouling our air, contributing to urban smog and threatening our health.

Studies by Health Canada and community health departments and agencies have shown a direct link between contaminants in vehicle emissions and significant respiratory health effects. These studies have concluded that poor air quality and smog – caused in part by vehicle exhaust – are resulting in increased hospital admissions, respiratory illnesses and premature deaths, particularly in urban areas.

In fact, Health Canada estimates that more than 5000 Canadians die prematurely each year because of air pollution, and thousands more become unnecessarily ill. Children are particularly vulnerable to air pollution because they breathe faster than adults and inhale more air per kilogram of body weight. Air pollution also causes unnecessary difficulty for elderly people and those with respiratory problems, such as asthma, emphysema and chronic bronchitis.

Comment: Diesel engines are the biggest culprits, but all engine idling wastes gas, causes unnecessary carbon emissions, endangers respiratory health, and even damages engines.

Garbage Truck Factoids

Here are some factoids on Garbage Trucks from Inform, an organization dedicated to "pushing the boundaries of green innovation":

GARBAGE TRUCK FACTS

• An estimated 136,000 garbage trucks, 12,000 transfer vehicles, and 31,000 dedicated recycling vehicles haul away America’s garbage (179,000 vehicles in total).
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• An average garbage truck travels 25,000 miles annually, gets less than 3 miles per gallon, and uses approximately 8,600 gallons of fuel each year.
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• Over 40% of garbage trucks are over 10 years old, making it the oldest fleet in the US.
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• The average diesel-powered garbage truck costs over $170,000 and is not retired for 12 years.
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• Over 27,000 organizations in the waste industry employ over 280,000 people.
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• 82% of collection services are carried out by private companies, and 18% by public entities.
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• Industry revenues for 2000, including waste hauling and recycling, exceeded $43 billion.

Does the U.S. Government Need to Subsidize Driving to Work?

A piece in today's New York Times exposed the government's self-defeating policy contradiction of allowing those who drive to work a tax deduction for parking while at the same time spending millions of dollars to fight traffic congestion. Shockingly, the tax code allows a larger deduction for those who drive than for those who take the train. Hopefully the article will mobilize members of the Green community to complain to their elected officials. The Times estimates that 200,000 drivers in the NY metro area (where parking is especially expensive) take advantage of the parking deduction.

New York Times: Mixed Signals: Driving to Work as a Tax Break

Hybrid Taxis for NYC

Mayor Bloomberg announced that NYC is going to replace its current fleet of 13,000 taxis, now mostly Ford Crown Victorias, with hybrids. The Fords get a pitiful 10-15 mpg in city driving. This change would be the equivalent of removing 32,000 regular cars from the road. The move must be approved by the city’s Taxi & Limousine Commission.

Reported in the New York Times, May 23, 2007

One advantage, I suppose, is that the hybrids are more tailored to the driving styles of most NYC cab drivers, which could be characterized as “stop and go” on steroids.

Fellow New Yorkers: how many times have you been in a cab that violently accelerated to go 40 feet towards an already red light and then slammed on the brakes?

In moments of my usual mode of do-nothing environmental reverie, I wondered about trying to estimate the fuel costs of violent stop-and-go driving for the average cab shift in order to make the case for more stomach- and environmentally-friendly driving. Hybrids, with their regenerative breaking, will lessen the environmental and financial costs of cab-style driving—so I guess I will try to be more philosophical about living with the lurches.

Stop Idling Your Car

From Canada's Office of Energy Efficiency:

Canada estimates that if every driver avoided idling for five minutes a day, they would prevent more than 1 million tons of greenhouse gases from entering the atmosphere and save 1.8 million litres of fuel per day.

Idling your car for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel than restarting your engine.

Comment: Canada has led the way in the fight against engine idling.