Here in Alberta, St. Albert, Hinton and Jasper have made unnecessary idling against the law. Jasper was the first, implementing its anti-idling bylaw in November 2007. The regulation exempts only working vehicles, cars stopped at traffic lights and parked vehicles with frosty windshields. Jasper mayor Richard Ireland reports the bylaw has decreased idling significantly.

Excessive idling wastes a significant amount of fuel and means a lot of money going out the tailpipe, with no forward motion. National Resources Canada (NRCan) reports that if drivers of light-duty vehicles avoided idling by just three minutes a day each year, Canadians would collectively save 630 million litres of fuel and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1.4 million tonnes. The calculation is based on an average engine displacement of 3.0-litres.

Studies show those emissions are taking their toll on our bodies as well as our environment. Emissions from vehicle tailpipes can irritate and damage human lungs, leading to higher risks of asthma, cancer and heart disease. Vehicle exhaust contains more than 40 hazardous air pollutants and 15 of them are classified as known, probable or possible carcinogens.

St. Albert’s idle-free bylaw passed by a 4-2 vote at city council in March 2008. Now vehicles idling longer than three minutes during a 30-minute period, except in extremely cold or hot weather, face a $100 fine. Drivers loading or unloading passengers, conducting mechanical service or operating emergency or armoured vehicles are exempt.

Early last year, Edmonton City Council also explored the idea of an anti-idling bylaw, but decided against it. Instead, the city has implemented a multi-year educational program in partnership with school boards and community leagues to build awareness of the issue.

Calgary is taking a similar approach. Red Deer council also debated the issue but limited its anti-idling policy to city vehicles. City workers are prohibited from idling near building intakes, school grounds or groups of people, and never for more than three to five minutes anywhere else.

In St. Albert and other cities that have introduced bylaws, enforcement hasn’t meant many fines, if any – at least not yet. “Our enforcement efforts are mostly complaint-based and, at this point, have only required warnings,” says Meghan Myers, the city’s environmental coordinator. “Our Municipal Enforcement Service department reports that they’ve been successful in simply advising motorists of the bylaw to gain compliance.”

Still, in spite of these efforts, not everybody thinks anti-idling bylaws are a good idea. Some even resent what they perceive as big government exerting too much control over petty behaviourial matters and many cling to fallacies about idling.

The most common misconception is that running the car (as opposed to restarting it) actually protects the engine and saves on gas. NRCan says idling for more than 10 seconds consumes more fuel than restarting the engine.

Furthermore, the break-even time to offset any potential incremental maintenance costs to the starter or battery is under 60 seconds. So, as a guideline, NRCan recommends turning off the engine if stopped for more than a minute, except while in traffic.

Contrary to popular belief, the best way to warm up a vehicle is to drive it, NRCan says. With today’s computer-controlled engines, two or three minutes of idling is enough warm-up time, even on the coldest winter days.

Idling causes water condensation in the exhaust system, and that can corrode the system. It also leaves fuel residue on cylinder walls that can contaminate oil and damage engine components.

Here are some other numbers to ponder: Ten minutes of idling a day burns more than 100 litres of gasoline over the course of a year. A poorly tuned engine uses up to 15 per cent more energy when idling than a well-tuned engine.

At -20°C, pre-heating your engine for two hours with a block heater makes it easier to start and can improve overall fuel economy by as much as 10 per cent. For a single short trip at -25°C, fuel savings can reach 25 per cent.

As part of the quest to reduce unnecessary idling, some municipalities are even targeting vehicle drive-throughs. Last summer, the city council in Comox, B.C. on Vancouver Island, voted 4-3 to ban new drive-throughs. It shows that, far from sitting idle, the movement is gaining significant momentum.

The Alberta Motor Association wants the federal government to require vehicle manufacturers to equip all new vehicles with advanced catalytic converter technology to reduce emissions when vehicles are started cold. The AMA is also pushing for vehicles to include idle-stop capability so that vehicles can be turned off temporarily when stopped and then restarted easily.