Idling

• A typical heavy-duty truck or bus can burn approximately one gallon of diesel fuel for each hour it idles, generating significant amounts of pollution, wasting fuel, and causing excessive engine wear.
• Instead of idling, vehicle owners can purchase small generators or auxiliary power units specifically designed for trucks and buses that provide heat, air conditioning, and/or power while a vehicle is not in motion. These devices substantially reduce the fuel consumed and emissions generated during long-duration idling. An assessment of the cost savings (PDF) (1 pg, 234K) from reductions in idling is available from Argonne National Laboratory's Transportation Technology R&D Center.
• List of idle control technologies
• The New England Asthma Regional Council has developed a toolkit for reducing diesel emissions. The toolkit is designed to help school communities, environmental officials, and others make informed decisions about ways to reduce harmful diesel emissions from school buses. It includes materials created by the Asthma Regional Council and resources developed by numerous organizations and agencies around the country. The toolkit can be found online.
• See the Documents Section to download fact sheets on idling.
• Five states in New England have anti-idling regulations.
  • Connecticut (PDF) (11 pp, 214K)
  • Maine (PDF) (3 pp, 12K)
  • Massachusetts (PDF) (2 pp, 142K)
    • Chapter 90: Section 16B. Idling of a motor vehicle engine on school property; penalties; adoption of regulations
    • 540 CMR 27.00: Regulation of motor vehicle idling on school grounds (PDF) (3 pp, 26K)
  • New Hampshire (PDF) (5 pp, 46K)
  • Rhode Island (PDF) (6 pp, 25K)
  • Vermont
• EPA National Model State Idling Law (PDF) (15 pp, 469K)

The SmartWay Transport Partnership is a voluntary collaboration between EPA and the freight industry to conserve fuel and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. SmartWay "makes the business case" for how companies shipping products, and the truck and rail carriers delivering these products, can improve their environmental profile while saving money and time.

Companies join the SmartWay Transport Partnership for a 3 year period, and begin by analyzing the efficiency of their operations using SmartWay software. EPA helps partners set individualized goals and select the right strategies. Fleets choose from a wide variety of strategies to minimize idle time, reduce rolling resistance, improve aerodynamics, refine logistics and train drivers. Shippers participate by increasing the proportion of their product carried by SmartWay carrier partners, and also by improving on-dock efficiency and logistics. Partners benchmark their operations, track their savings, and report yearly to EPA. Partners can qualify to use the SmartWay logo and receive other forms of recognition, including awards.

In the first 3 years of the program, SmartWay signed on 650 partners in 45 states, including major shippers such as IKEA, Nike, Canon, and Home Depot, and more than half of the top 100 for-hire carriers. SmartWay is not only for huge corporations—many small carriers and locally-known shippers are also partners. For a list of New England partners, see http://www.epa.gov/smartway/transport/where-you-work/region1.htm To date, EPA NE has developed success stories on three of our partners. Hannaford received an Environmental Merit Award from EPA NE in 2007 for energy efficiency accomplishments at their facilities and in their freight movement.

For more information and to read the case studies:

• Hannaford Trucking Company (PDF) (2 pp, 65K)
• Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (PDF) (2 pp, 56K)
• RFX Companies (PDF) (1 pg, 48K)

New SmartWay offerings for truck fleets include upgrade financing programs and certified tractors and trailers. In addition, Smartway offers ways for optimizing mode choice, greening the supply chain, selecting alternative fuels, and helping consumers and light-duty fleet operators choose efficient vehicles. Railroad carriers, logistics providers, biofuels suppliers, truck stops, and technology vendors are also eligible for SmartWay partnership.

EPA New England is reaching out to trade associations, carriers, shippers, transportation planners, and others to sign on new partners and to promote related technologies, strategies and infrastructure. For more information, see the SmartWay website or contact Abby Swaine (swaine.abby@epa.gov or 617-918-1841) at EPA New England.

Through the SmartWay Grow & Go program, EPA aims to promote the environmental benefits of renewable fuels by working with our current and prospective SmartWay Transport partners. EPA's goal is for 25 percent of our SmartWay partners to commit to use renewable fuels by 2012, and 50 percent by 2020.

SmartWay Grow & Go will expand technical information about renewable fuels and increase public awareness of their benefits. In addition, EPA will work with our federal partners and others to remove regulatory barriers to the increased use of quality renewable fuels. For more information, please visit the SmartWay Go & Grow web site.

Five states in New England have anti-idling regulations: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The Connecticut and Massachusetts regulations are part of the state implementation plan. State regulations that are part of the state implementation plan are federally enforceable. This means that EPA has the authority to enforce these laws as well as the State. EPA has taken enforcement action against several fleets in Connecticut and Massachusetts for alleged violations of the anti-idling regulations in those states. The press page of this site contains specific information about these actions.

EPA NE conducts compliance assistance to encourage fleet and facility operators to comply with New England states' idling limits. We focus our compliance assistance efforts on states where EPA has enforcement authority (as of September 2008, MA, CT and RI), trade associations, and fleets and locations of special concern. We also respond to complaints and inquiries from citizens and individual fleets/facilities. In addressing an issue, we seek to address the root of the idling problem, and to apply SmartWay fuel-saving technologies and strategies wherever possible.

To report or inquire about excessive idling in a specific location, we encourage you to first contact your state or local environmental agency:

Connecticut

Connecticut DEP – Air Quality Complaint Line at 860-424–3436

Maine

Maine DEP – Air Quality Bureau at 207-287-2437

Massachusetts

City of Boston – Air Pollution Control Commission at 617-635-3850 or Massachusetts DEP – Regional Offices or call the general complaint line at 617-556-1000 or 1-800-VIOLATE

New Hampshire

New Hampshire DES – Air Resources Division at 603-271-1370 or 1-800-498-6868

Rhode Island

Rhode Island DEM – Office of Air Resources at 401-222-2808 or 800-752-8088

Vermont

Vermont DEC –Air Pollution Control Division at 802-241-3840

EPA New England also welcomes idling complaints, requests for technical assistance, and other inquiries. Contact Abby Swaine (swaine.abby@epa.gov or 617-918-1841).