Effects of Idle Reduction Technologies on Real World Fuel Use and Exhaust Emissions of Idling Long-Haul Trucks

Abstract

Idling long-haul freight tucks may consume nearly one billion gallons of diesel fuel per year in the U.S. There is a need for real-world data by which to quantify avoided fuel use and emissions attributable to idle reduction techniques of auxiliary power units (APUs) and shore-power (SP). Field data were obtained from 20 APU-equipped and SP-compatible trucks observed during 2.8 million miles of travel in 42 states. Base engine fuel use and emission rates varied depending on ambient temperature. APU and SP energy use and emission rates varied depending on electrical load. APUs reduced idling fuel use and CO2 emissions for single and team drivers by 22 and 5% annually, respectively. SP offers greater reductions in energy use of 48% for single drivers, as well as in emissions, except for SO2. APUs were cost-effective for single drivers with a large number of APU usage hours per year, but not for team drivers or for single drivers with low APU utilization rates. The findings support more accurate assessments of avoided fuel use and emissions, and recommendations to encourage greater APU utilization by single drivers and to further develop infrastructure for SP.

Evaluating the impacts of the clean cities program

“…Previous research has suggested that non-fuel substitution strategies such as land use strategies to reduce VMT (Baum-Snow, 2010; Frank & Pivo, 1995;Boarnet, 2010), and behavioral strategies to avoid idling (Frey et al, 2009b;Gaines et al, 2012), reduce driving, and encourage transit use, have direct, if modest, impacts on human health (Dannenberg et al, 2003), energy use and CO 2 emissions (Makido et al, 2012;Norman et al, 2006). These strategies require significant multi-institutional efforts.…”

“…In addition to the alternative fuels strategy, the Clean Cities program aims to reduce petroleum consumption through idle reduction, VMT reduction, and other fuel-saving practices (United States Department of Energy, Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy, 2016d). Idling wastes fuel and is associated with local pollutant emissions (Frey et al, 2009b). According to Argonne National Laboratory, idling can waste up to 0.5 gal of fuel per hour for passenger vehicles resulting in criteria pollutant and GHG emissions (Gaines et al, 2012).…”

An updated methodology to analyse the idling of agricultural tractors

“…19/27 correlation between the number of idling stops and the daily working hours was observed (Person's correlation coefficient between the two variables is 0.52). Idling stop durations ranged from 5 s (equal to the threshold value set for the analysis of the idling stops) up to 2329 s, this number is much lower than that of trucks, where most of the idling is caused by idling stops longer than 1 hour (Frey, Kuo, & Villa, 2009). Short idling stops were much more frequent than long idling stops; indeed, the 50 % of the idling stops were shorter than 25 s, while the 10% of the idling stops were longer than 295 s (Fig.…”

Simulation-based evaluation of fuel consumption in heavy construction projects by monitoring equipment idle times

“…EPA categorizes the ability of construction contractors to affect activities associated with GHG emissions into three groups namely "most influence", "some influence possible", and "little influence", and lists equipment idling in the first category (EPA 2009). In addition to nonroad construction vehicles, idling is equally important for on-road long-haul truck activities because drivers have to take mandatory rest stops to meet the Federal Hours of Service (HOS) regulations (Frey et al 2009). Using simplifying assumptions, EPA estimates that 960 million gallons of diesel fuel are annually consumed as a result of long-haul truck idling (Lim 2002).…”