Fuel economy: Stop idling and start saving
Posted
Jun 09 2008, 12:13 PM
by
Donna Freedman
Rating:
When I got to the bank last Friday, a pickup and a sedan were in the drive-through lane. I didn't pull in behind them because I'd read that one way to save gas is to avoid drive-throughs. Just for fun, I decided to figure out how long I would have waited.
The owner of the pickup must have had some pretty complicated banking, because the vehicle sat there for six minutes -- and I don't know how long it had been there before I arrived. The sedan owner's transaction took four minutes. In other words, if I'd gotten in that line I would have spent 10 minutes idling plus whatever time my own deposit would have taken.
Incidentally, a Lexus pulled in behind the other two cars. Maybe Lexus owners don't need to worry about the cost of gasoline.
But I do. Even at the cheap gas station on the corner the price is up to $4.11, and this place generally charges at least 10 cents less than most other stations. I look at their sign every morning while I wait for the bus. A week ago, the cost of a gallon went up nine cents between Monday morning and Wednesday morning.
So if you're looking for ways to cut gas usage, here's a tip: Turn off the engine when you're not actually going anywhere.
The 60-second rule?
According to auto Web site Edmunds.com, you should shut down anytime you expect to be waiting for more than one minute. While testing fuel economy tips, the authors of this article found that shutting off the engine is "more important than we assumed." In fact, they discovered that avoiding excessive idling can improve fuel economy up to 19%.
It's not as much as the top tip, which was to drive moderately rather than aggressively. That habit can improve economy as much as 37%. Still, 19% is a noticeable savings.
But I don't idle all that much, you protest. Maybe you don't. But maybe you do and don't realize it. Perhaps you keep the engine going while you wait for a kid to emerge from school or a partner to leave the workplace. Maybe you choose to sit in your climate-controlled vehicle listening to Beethoven rather than stand in a bank line. Or possibly you decline to unbuckle two toddlers from car seats when picking up a fast-food meal.
Idle hours
Sometimes using a drive-through makes sense. If you have arthritis or some other medical condition, it's less physically taxing to use the pharmacy window. And to be honest, I would hate dragging a couple of tired toddlers out of the car so I could pay for burgers and fries.
But for plenty of us, it's just a question of learning new habits. If you show up after band practice and your kid is nowhere in sight, simply turn off the car. Even if your son walks out of the school 30 seconds later, it'll take at least another 30 seconds -- and probably more like five minutes -- to say goodbye to his pals, walk to the car, and get himself and his sousaphone safely ensconced.
Ever left your vehicle running while you waited for a passenger to run into the store for a soda? Stop doing that.
Lulled by the convenience of the coffee shop's drive-through? Get over it, and walk inside.
Do you turn the key in the ignition before popping in a CD, buckling your seat belt/checking to see if the kids have buckled theirs, rooting through your briefcase for driving directions/programming the GPS, checking your voice mail or taking a few sips of coffee? Here's a suggestion: Start your car only when you're actually ready to drive it.
A billion minutes a year
Maybe this sounds penny ante to you. Try timing yourself the next time you're the fourth or fifth car in line at Starbucks. Even if you were first, I'd be surprised if it took less than 60 seconds for them to take your order, prepare it, hand it to you and make change. Park it, for heaven's sake.
An article at the Energywasters.com Web site gives an idea of how this penny ante time adds up. The article noted that the average fast-food restaurant wait after placing an order is about three minutes, not counting the time it took to wait in line to place that order. (This was based on a 2007 study conducted by an industry publication.) Based on these numbers, the site extrapolated that Burger King customers alone spend about a billion minutes a year idling, which translates to 16 million gallons of gas.
So go ahead: Sit in your car while you wait for coffee, dry cleaning, a bank transaction or some chicken strips. Let the engine purr while you wait for your spouse at the train station. But don't gripe about how much gas is costing unless you're doing what you can to reduce consumption. How hard is it to turn the key to the "off" position?
