Miami University Adopts Idle Regulators To Reduce Emissions, Costs
- By Mike Hohenbrink
- 11/18/11
Miami University in Oxford, OH has adopted a tool designed to help reduce engine idling for campus service vehicles in order to reduce emissions.
The school will employ Idle Guard 200 from Transportation Safety Technologies (TST) as a means of complying with regulations designed to limit engine idling, both to help the environment and to save on costs for its vehicle fleet.
Idle Guard 200 provides a timer function to automatically stop engine idling. With anti-idling requirements in many jurisdictions, the product allows full compliance with the law as well as saving money by preventing waste. Idling an engine for one hour burns approximately one gallon of fuel, the company noted in a release about the university’s decision.
Citing data from the California Energy Commission Web site, TST noted that a car engine that idles for two minutes burns enough fuel to drive roughly one mile. The amount is greater for large service vehicles.
In addition, idling can damage an engine because idling burns fuel at less than peak engine temperature leading to fuel being only partially combusted.
The Idle Guard 200 technology can be customized according to varied needs. Putting a vehicle in park starts the clock to shut off the vehicle, either by shutting off the fuel with a diesel engine or the ignition for vehicles that use a gasoline engine. The timer can be set for three, five or 15 minutes.
"Unnecessary engine idling is the largest factor in how much fuel a fleet wastes," said Clarence Blevins, manager of physical facilities for Miami University. "Installing the Idle Guard 200 in our maintenance vehicles will help the university save money, while reducing our carbon footprint--and that's something we're proud to be a part of."
Based in Indiana, TST provides a range of products for the specialty vehicle industry. For more information, visit tst-corp.com.