City Can Be a Leader in Protecting the Environment

Vehicle idling gets zero miles per gallon; unnecessary idling wastes fuel and pollutes. Running an engine at low speed (idling) also causes twice the wear on internal parts compared to driving at regular speeds. The breakeven point for shutting off and restarting gasoline engines or leaving it to idle is 30 seconds- from the point of view of both emissions and fuel consumption.
The City of Summerside needs to be a leader in attempting to lessen pollutants that pose a determent to the areas air quality. These pollutants include nitrogen oxide, carbon dioxide, particulate matter, and volatile organic compounds.
Idling vehicles consumes approximately 17% of the fuel that the vehicles has on board.
I recently presented a draft policy to city council regarding the city adopting an anti-idling policy for our city fleet. It just makes environmental and economical sense. It is now gone to municipal works staff to look at where exemptions need to be put in place. For example, there are certain vehicles that need to be on to have emergency lights active, etc. I am hoping the policy will be in place by September or October at the latest.
Today I had a nice chat with Councillor David MacDonald with the City of Charlottetown- he is the chair of the Environmental Committee with the City. We discussed many environmental issues and I look forward to perhaps partnering on a few environmental issues such as an anti-idling education campaign for the community.