AUSTIN, TEXAS – Because of the Chevron refinery fire in Northern California, the West Coast is facing a fuel shortage and rising gas prices. Something we all know places a burden on this state’s fragile economy. Cities, states and taxpayers will assume that burden, as our civil service entities struggle to continue providing vehicle dependent services such as law enforcement and public utility maintenance.
Energy Xtreme is the developer and manufacturer of mobile power idle reduction technology. A system designed specifically to reduce fuel waste by eliminating the need to idle. By providing heavy idle vehicles with mobile power idle reduction systems, equipment operation can be done without engaging the engine (power tools, lights, computers, and more). Suitable for all vehicle types, systems operate silently and emission free improving work site conditions and overall air quality.
In addition to the cost benefits of saving fuel, reducing dead batteries and maintenance, fleets increase their vehicle MPG and mitigate engine wear and tear.
Unless cities and states begin to recognize the benefits of idle reduction we will continue to be dependent on foreign oil, emit unnecessary greenhouse gases in the air, watch our economy struggle and waste taxpayer money.
What is Idle Reduction?
Idle reduction describes technologies and practices that minimize the amount of time drivers idle their engines. Avoiding idling time has a multitude of benefits, including; garnering savings in fuel and maintenance costs, extending vehicle life and reducing damaging emissions for better health and global sustainability.
Why Idle Reduction?
Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) labeled diesel emissions a cancer causing carcinogen and it is estimated that approximately 1.5% of cancer deaths are attributed to air pollution.. Links between fuel consumption, climate change our environment and our health are well documented. Consider some of the implications climate change has on the environment and our health; the potential impacts include severe weather, to rising sea levels, droughts, forest fires and floods.
Idling vehicles use billions of gallons of fuel each year and emit large quantities of air pollution and greenhouse gases. Idle reduction technologies and practices are an important way to cut petroleum consumption and emissions. In the U.S. medium-duty trucks alone use about 2.5 billion gallons of fuel to idle each year, or 6.7% of the total fuel they consume.
In the public sector, idling is common. police officers, public works employees, fire fighters (and EMT's), who operate city fleet vehicles idle to perform their duties which require them to operate radios, emergency lights, laptops, digital cameras, license plate readers, or powering equipment, power tools and hydraulics. The emissions generated from these tasks by city's all over the U.S. contribute to the fact that each year U.S. passenger cars, light trucks, medium-duty trucks, and heavy-duty vehicles consume more than 6 billion gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline—without even moving.
Fuel pricing volatility is a fleet management challenge and as fuel prices continue to rise, cities and states need to figure out how to keep service vehicles on the road to serve the public while staying within budget.
The trucking industry has analyzed the impact of idling on engines, both in terms of maintenance and engine wear costs. Long-duration idling causes more oil and oil filter deterioration and increases the need for more oil and filter changes. Similarly, the longer the idling time, the sooner the engine, itself, will need to be rebuilt. The trucking industry estimates that long duration idling costs the truck owner $1.13 per day, based on the need for more frequent oil changes and sooner overhaul costs.
