Wednesday, May 14, 2008

To idle or not to idle?

Interesting information I found today while traveling the Internets...

I have always wondered if I should turn off the car when waiting for something/one or if I should leave it on. According to this site, off is the way to go. This is good information in our current times of $4 (and rising) gas prices. Here's the Cliff's Notes version of the information...
If you're in a drive-through restaurant/business line or waiting for someone and you'll be parked and sitting for 10 seconds or longer... turn off your car's engine... For every two minutes a car is idling, it uses about the same amount of fuel it takes to go about one mile. Research indicates that the average person idles their car five to 10 minutes a day... The recommendation is: If you are going to be parked for more than 30 seconds, turn off the engine. Ten seconds of idling can use more fuel than turning off the engine and restarting it... An alternative to idling is to park your car, walk inside, do your business and then go back to your car.

Now about that time in high school when my keys were locked in my running car for at least 30 minutes...

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