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| Therese Bombardier听(left) and Kathie Wheadon-Hore show off one of the new "Idle-Free" signs听(Nick Pearce photo) |
That鈥檚 why Dalhousie has prepared new anti-idling听guidelines for vehicles operating on campus. They suggest that passenger-sized vehicles should be shut-down whenever idling periods are expected to exceed one minute; for larger vehicles, three minutes. (You can听download the听document at the .)
The guidelines have been approved by the university鈥檚 Parking and Security Committee as well as the Vice-President Finance and Administration, and will be promoted with the installation of 鈥淚dle-Free鈥� signs across campus this fall - upwards of 20 in total. The first of these will be posted outside Dalplex, identified as one of Dalhousie鈥檚 idling 鈥渉ot spots鈥� by the Office of Sustainability last year.
鈥淟ast summer I spent most of my time researching 鈥榠dle free,鈥欌�� says Derek Robinson, a third-year community design student and staff member听with the Office of Sustainability. 鈥淢yself and another student looked not only at policies and programs we could implement, but also did observations across campus.鈥�
It doesn鈥檛 surprise Kathie Wheadon-Hore that Dalplex is one of the worst places for idling on campus. As the senior manager of facility operations for Dalhousie Athletics 鈥撎齛s well as a representative on the Parking and Security Committee 鈥撎齭he regularly sees cars parked waiting to pick up Dalplex patrons,听lowering the air quality for people inside the building.
鈥淥bviously we have a wide range of demographics coming in and out of Dalplex,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think people realize that the fumes from their engines go into the building, where people work and use our facilities. The more informed people are, the better decisions we hope they鈥檒l make.鈥�
The new anti-idling program is a partnership with DriveWiser, a fuel-efficiency program run through Clean Nova Scotia that provides drivers with information about driving, maintaining and buying for fuel efficiency. The goal is to help drivers learn how they can both save money and the environment.
鈥淭he average Canadian driver idles for six to eight minutes a day,鈥� says Therese Bombardier, program officer with DriverWiser. "If every Canadian听driver reduced their idling听time听by just听three minutes a day, in one year听we鈥檇 save 1.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide and 630 million litres of fuel.鈥�
The听Office of Sustainability is also听in the final days of听 to discover听where/how the Dal campus is most vulnerable to climate change. Take 10 minutes to fill out the survey (which concludes听Friday, June 4)听and let them know about your experiences with weather events on campus. Not only will you be helping Dal adapt to the changing climate, you鈥檒l also have a chance to win a Dalhousie umbrella.
Dal's idling "hot spots"In the summer and fall of 2009, the Office of Sustainability sought to find out which campus locations had the most excessive idling. Staff and volunteers did "stake outs" at key hot spots and recorded the activity. Here's the worst offending locations from the fall survey, all of which are likely to have new "Idle-Free" signage this September:
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