DUMMERSTON — The Ben and Jerry's Foundation recently awarded $500 to the Dummerston Energy Committee to pay for the costs of educational materials and creating signage to promote Dummerston's recently-enacted anti-idling resolution.
Anti-idling signs, which will be placed at various locations, including the Dummerston town offices, the Dummerston Elementary School, the Dummerston covered bridge and other locales.
According to Idle-Free VT, (www.idlefreevt.org), idling vehicles adversely affect human health, particularly of children, the elderly and those with asthma. The air polluting effects of vehicle emissions include headaches, aggravation of asthma and allergies, lung disease and impaired learning. Children are especially vulnerable because their lungs and airways are immature, and their breathing zone is lower than adults, so they are more exposed to vehicular exhaust.
Idling is also an economic and environmental issue, causing needless engine wear, wasting precious energy resources of a finite planet and causing needless noise pollution.
Idle-Free VT also notes that Vermont's level of transportation greenhouse emissions by geographic calculation is twice the national average. Those emissions include toxins such as carbon monoxide (a major contributor to climate change), nitrogen oxide (a major component in smog), sulfur dioxide (a contributing factor in acidification of lakes and streams) and benzene (a highly flammable gas which lowers the immune system, causes anemia and cancers such as leukemia).
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states “idling typically wastes up to a gallon of fuel per hour” and recommends “for a wait time of more than a few seconds” an engine should be turned off. After 10 seconds of idling a vehicle, more gasoline is burned than turning the engine off and then starting it up again. It is also suggested that vehicle owners read their owner's manual to find out more about engine wear and tear, and what the ideal idling limits for their car's make and model. Avoiding drive-throughs and shutting engines off during long waits in construction zones, also saves fuel and lowers emissions.
There are instances in which idling a vehicle is illegal. To promote the health and welfare of school children, Vermont instituted in 2007 a statewide anti-idling law which prohibits school bus idling when children are waiting to enter or exit a bus. Bus drivers must not start their engines until ready to leave school premises. It is also a violation of state law to idle an unattended vehicle in any public place.
Other Vermont towns with anti-idling resolutions include Putney, Brattleboro, Newfane, Marlboro, Middlebury, Plainfield, Richmond and Stowe. The city of Burlington has an anti-idling ordinance.
For more information on this or any other project of the Dummerston Energy Committee, visit their Web page on the Dummerston town website at www.dummerston.org. All members of the public are welcome at DEC meetings, held on the first Monday of the month at 6 p.m. at the town offices, unless otherwise posted.