Turn off the Engine at Traffic Lights

Why turn off the engine at short halts?

I am sure that you must have been guided by someone at some point of your driving tenure that you must turn off the engine at traffic lights or at short halts. It is then when it hits you, is it really environmentally friendly to turn of the engine or will starting the engine again consume more fuel when compared to idling. Idling is when the driver leaves the engine running and the vehicle is parked. Everyday, there are lacs of vehicles which are left idling unnecessarily in India.

Yes, you may not be able to turn off the engine at very short halts or in slow-moving traffic but otherwise idling is totally unnecessary. It has a drastic effect on the environment and on your pocket.

Here are some tips to ensure that you stay idle-free and be kind to the environment:
- Turn off the engine if waiting for more than 10 seconds – Idling for more than 10 seconds consumes more fuel than restarting the engine again.
- You protect your car's engine by idling less – Quick start-stop of the engine is way less harmful to your pocket because of the wear & tear of the engine and battery, when compared to idling. This is simply because of the rising costs of fuel as compared to maintenance costs of the mechanics under the hood.
- Warm up the engine by driving rather than idling – Technology which comes integrated into today's engines do not require warming up the engine before you set off. The best and safest way to warm up the engine is by driving it and not by revving the engine like old times.
- Warm up the cabin by driving rather than idling – In winters, you love the warmth that the car's air conditioning has to offer. But you'd love it to deliver it much faster. Easing into your drive is the best way to get your vehicle's heating system delivering warmer air faster. Also, sitting inside an idling car means you are inhaling in the dirty exhaust that leaks into the car's cabin. In such a situation, it is safer to get out of the car and get inside a store or a building as damaging your health is not worth the warmth of the idling car's cabin.

Now keeping all that in mind is not a hard job. But there is logic behind it. Why bother doing all that just to safe a few bucks? Well let's find out...

- Saving money – It is the obvious reason for not idling which was highlighted earlier. You can save anywhere between 2 – 5 litres of fuel for every hour of not idling.
- Helping the environment – Idling still consumes fuel at almost the same rate while it the car is moving at town speeds. Let's look at it this way – for every 10 minutes that your engine is off, you prevent nearly half a Kg of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere. (CO2 – Carbon dioxide is the primary contributor for both global warming and global dimming)

The polluted air is harmful to all. The pollutants have been linked to serious health problems in humans, including asthma, heart disease, chronic bronchitis and cancer. Blaming global warming on other means is very easy but it really is a no-brainer that as a part of this beautiful world, we must do our bit to save the environment and make it cleaner.