May is Air Quality Awareness Month and We're Taking the No Idle Pledge!
Posted by admin on May. 3, 2021 / Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Emissions & Fuel Economy, LCF Projects / Subscribe 0
Governor John Bel Edwards has declared May to be Air Quality Awareness month in Louisiana. According to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), “Louisiana is in attainment with the National Air Quality Standards for Ozone and Fine Particulate Matter (PM2.5), but there is still much work to do to maintain that designation.” The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has also designated the first week of May as Air Quality Awareness Week; this year’s theme is “Healthy Air – Important for Everyone.”
In order to continue this improvement and increase awareness and education about air quality and its importance, LCF will be offering tips and information about how we can all work to reduce our transportation emissions. Though the task of improving air quality can seem much too overwhelming for individual people or organizations to make a difference on their own, “it’s a cooperative effort,” says LDEQ, and “there are many steps individuals can take to help improve air quality and reduce emissions.” One of the easiest ways to reduce individual transportation emissions is through idle reduction.
Idle reduction describes technologies and practices that reduce the amount of time vehicles idle their engines. When the engine of a gasoline- or diesel-powered vehicle runs, it releases harmful emissions such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, and other harmful pollutants. Not only are these tailpipe emissions damaging to the environment, they are also harmful to human health. Vehicle idling releases these emissions without the benefit of even moving the vehicle - in short, the driver goes nowhere and sits in one spot, wasting fuel and releasing harmful emissions.
According to the Alternative Fuels Data Center (AFDC), "each year, U.S. passenger cars, light-duty trucks, medium-duty trucks, and heavy-duty vehicles consume more than 6 billion gallons of diesel fuel and gasoline—without even moving. Roughly half of that fuel is wasted by passenger vehicles.” The AFDC also states that one gallon of fuel creates roughly 20 lbs of greenhouse gases. Doing the math shows that idling vehicles are releasing about 120 billion lbs of greenhouse gases each year. These gases can contribute to poor air quality both through immediate exposure (someone standing near a vehicle’s tailpipe and breathing in the emissions) and through environmental harm over time.
Here are some quick everyday tips for reducing idle time and lowering your transportation emissions:
- Turn off your vehicle when stopped for 10 seconds or more except in traffic.
- When going through a long drive-through line, consider turning off your engine or, even better, parking and going inside the building.
- When waiting for passengers, keep the engine off while you wait.
According to the US Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), “Poor air quality can contribute to asthma and other ailments, and children’s lungs are more susceptible to damage than adults’ lungs are."
In honor of Air Quality Awareness month this May, consider taking a pledge to reduce idling and keep our Louisiana air cleaner and safer. We would love to see how you are doing your part for air quality improvement in Louisiana: tag Louisiana Clean Fuels on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn) and use the hashtag #NoIdleLA to promote your idle reduction efforts and encourage others to follow your lead! We will be sharing posts throughout the month of May to show how Louisianians are taking the No Idle Pledge to reduce emissions and improve air quality.
For more information about the benefits of idle reduction and how you can implement idle reduction strategies for yourself or your organization, check out the resources on our Idle Reduction page. You can also see the air quality forecast for various locations in Louisiana on LDEQ’s website.
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