Idle Free Awareness in SLC

by SLCgreen Intern Talea Steele

Photo Credit: SLCgreen. Poster titled ‘Be Part of the Solution – Not Part of the Pollution’.

We all know air quality is a problem for Salt Lake City. We can see our poor air quality in the winter with smoggy inversions, but you may not realize that air quality is just as big of an issue during the warmer months! 

Let me introduce you to… OZONE! Ozone is formed by pollutants such as carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and volatile organic compounds that interact with sunlight and heat. As temperatures rise across the valley, the formation of ground ozone rises as well, making us much more likely to breathe it in. Since ozone is odorless and invisible, we may not realize that breathing it in is damaging our cardiovascular systems and is like getting a sunburn to our lungs… ouch!   

So, what can we do about ozone to help keep our air and communities clean? One important and easy thing we can all do is to be idle free! 

September is Idle Free Awareness Month 

“Turn your key, be idle free” is not only a fun saying, but a movement to raise awareness and inspire people to help our air quality and environment. September is Idle Free Awareness Month so let’s look back on all we’ve done and what more we can do. 

First – “being idle free” means turning your vehicle off and not letting it run when you’re parked or otherwise waiting (and not in traffic). 

In 2011, Salt Lake City created its first idle free ordinance. This was updated in 2021 to include clearer rules and enhanced enforcement. The Idle Free Ordinance stipulates a time limit of two minutes for unnecessary vehicle idling. Additionally, these rules are enforceable on public property, as well as private property open to the public, such as drive-through windows and parking lots.  

When we idle, exhaust emissions emit precursor pollutants that contribute to both summer ozone and winter particulate pollution. So being idle-free helps improve air quality year-round. 

Idle-free signage at the City and County Building.

You may be thinking that’s great that being idle free is good for the environment, but what’s in it for me? And let me tell you, being idle free helps you in many ways!  

Saving Money 

Being idle free (or more idle free) helps your wallet. Reducing the amount of time we idle helps with your overall fuel costs since idling burns a large amount of fuel that is not being used to drive. In fact, more than ten seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting your car and idling for two minutes uses about the same amount of fuel it takes to drive only one mile.  

Protecting Your Car  

Being idle free also helps your car, helping you to save even more money in the long term. Excessive idling can cause damage to your engine and many car manufacturers do not advise a car idling for more than 30 seconds. With modern cars, restarting the engine of your car many times has very little impact on components such as the battery and starter motor. And any component wear caused by restarting the engine is only estimated to add about ten dollars per year to the cost of driving, which is money that will likely be recovered several times over with fuel saving from reduced idling.  

With the average person idling their car five to ten times a day we can truly see how big of an impact a single person being idle free can have not only on the environment but also for our wallets.  

Here are Some Tips to Make it Easier

Let’s say you are waiting in the drive-through at the pharmacy to get your prescription and the line is long. In this scenario, an easy way to idle less is to “turn your key” — park and go inside to pick up your prescription instead of idling by waiting in your car. This can also apply to other scenarios such as fast-food drive-through lines, school pick-up lines, etc., and can help in adopting the ten second rule of shutting your engine off when your car is stopped. 

Another example that is more applicable to the wintertime is turning your car on to warm it up. I hate to break this to you, but this is a myth. Newer cars (any after the 1980’s) do not need much time at all to “warm up” to be driven. You can instead simply get in your car and drive it to warm it up instead of idling. This will actually help your car more and will not add to the winter inversion! 

With all of us making small habit changes to idle less, we can have a positive collective impact on our air quality — making it is healthy and breathable for all Salt Lakers!