Anti-Idling Training Session Presented by Julie Beer, Susan Tse & Gerry Hay February 23 rd, 2006 McMath Secondary

Presentation Overview  Why Idling is a Problem  Myths versus Reality  The Benefits of Taking Action  How We Can Take Action  Resources

Why Is Idling a Problem? Idling our vehicles:  produces unnecessary pollution that contributes to climate change & smog  jeopardizes our health  wastes fuel and costs us money  is not good for vehicle engines

 Most Canadians idle for 5–10 minutes a day or more, with idling increasing in the winter months  In the height of winter, Canadians idle for a combined total of 75 million minutes a day – equivalent to one vehicle idling for 144 years! Idling Habits of Canadians

Idling Myth #1 Reality  Idling is not an effective way to warm up your vehicle.  Driving your vehicle is the best way to warm it up.  30 seconds of warming up your vehicle on winter days is enough. The engine should be warmed up before driving.

Idling Myth #2 Reality  An idling engine is not operating at its peak temperature, which means fuel combustion is incomplete.  Excessive idling can damage your engine components, including cylinders, spark plugs and the exhaust system. Idling is good for your engine.

Idling Myth #3 Reality  Frequent restarting has little impact on engine components.  More than 10 seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine. Shutting off and restarting your vehicle is hard on the engine and uses more gas.

The Benefits of Taking Action Not idling will:  Save you money  Reduce engine wear and tear  Improve the quality of air in your community  Reduce harmful GHG emissions that contribute to climate change & smog

It can be done... with the turn of a key.  If every driver of a light-duty vehicle avoided idling for just five minutes per day, we would:  save 1.9 million litres of fuel valued at $1.7 million  prevent more than 4550 tonnes of CO 2 from entering the atmosphere

How Do We Take Action? Introduction to Social Marketing Social marketing:  is a planned process for influencing change  is a term that is modified from the conventional product or service marketing  can play a central role in topics such as health, environment, and other important issues

Community-Based Social Marketing Community-based social marketing:  emphasizes direct contact among community members  focuses on the removal of structural barriers Research suggests that such approaches are often most likely to bring about behaviour change.

Community-Based Social Marketing Community-based social marketing is pragmatic. It involves:  identifying the barriers to a behaviour  developing and piloting a program to overcome these barriers  implementing the program across a community  evaluating the effectiveness of the program

Tools for CBSM  Communication - from most to least effective: face- to-face, TV, radio, newsprint (although newsprint is most effective for complicated messages such as effects on climate change)  Prompts – purpose is to overcome forgetting; needs to be close in space and time to action we want to encourage  Commitment - want this to be public and durable  Social Diffusion - personal appeals and conversations can be effective  Norms - if we make behaviour salient and visible, this becomes more of the social norm, therefore more pressure to behave this way

Common Idling Moments  warming up your car  waiting for your windows to defrost  running a “quick” errand  waiting in a drive-thru  waiting in a ferry line up  waiting to pick someone up (e.g. outside a house, school, airport, etc.)  waiting to get a parking spot

What Can I Do?  Act as an individual  Prepare and implement an anti-idling action plan at your school

Individual Idle-Free Action Plan  Reduce “warm up” idling to 30 seconds  Turn off your engine if you are going to be stopped for more than 10 seconds (except in traffic)  Avoid drive-thrus  Plan your trips and combine errands to drive less  Spread the word to your family and friends

Anti-Idling Action Plan for Your School 1. Find a team of people willing to create and implement an idle-free campaign. 2. Attend a training session with your team and create an action plan. 3. Gather all the important stakeholders in your school community and get approval for your project. 4. Collect data about current idling practices at your school.

Anti-Idling Action Plan 5. Get permission for the installation of idle-free signs at your school and have them installed. 6. Inform your school community about idling and the benefits of being idle-free. 7. Implement a plan to approach drivers who are idling that includes:  informing the driver about idling  asking the driver for a verbal commitment not to idle  offering an idle-free sticker to the driver to display on his/her windshield

The Anti-Idling Tool Kit Ready-to-Use Graphics

The Anti-Idling Tool Kit Campaign Materials

Anti-Idling Action Plan 8. Collect data to see if your campaign has had an impact. 9. Reinforce your idle-free message as necessary. 10. Remember that it takes time to change habits!

Working Towards an Idle-Free Zone Other possibilities are to:  Celebrate your successes by informing local newspapers of your campaign.  Produce displays for local events.  Make presentations to other schools in the neighbourhood.  Make presentations to community organizations around you.

Summary  Idling is a problem because it produces unnecessary pollution and preventable health problems. It also wastes fuel, costs us money, and is not good for our vehicles’ engines.  Reducing idling will help spare our air, slow climate change and save energy and money.  We need to shatter the myths about idling and give people the correct information.  We can act both as individuals and as a team to change people’s idling behaviour.

It’s Up to Us!  The first step is to take action to reduce your own vehicle’s idling.  Next, we need to get out there and help change other people’s behaviour.  Together, we can make a difference!

For More Information  Visit the Idle-Free Zone:  Contact: Julie Beer, Environmental Coordinator City of Richmond Gerry Hay, Fleet Training Officer City of Richmond Susan Tse, Teacher Consultant Richmond School Board