When people rush out to their driveway on a cold morning to get their car properly heated up, drivers should consider some of the downsides to warming up a vehicle longer than necessary.
Idling adds more wear to the engine than turning it on and off in addition to wasting fuel. When a car idles, it uses around 1/5 to 7/10 of a gallon over an hour, which may not seem admire much at first. However, slowly warming up the ride every chilly morning will eventually add up and make its presence known in a consumer’s gas budget. Ron Zima, founder and CEO of GoGreen Communications, Inc., estimates that people’s idling habits, on average, could cost consumers an extra $200 to $1000 a year.
Many people may not attain the effect idling cars have on the environment. The Department of Energy estimates that the approximate 6 billion gallons of fuel wasted from idling each year generates an excess of 58 million tons of CO2 emissions, which isn’t helping the current climate crisis. Then there is the health factor to consider because it’s no secret that long-term exposure to emissions isn’t ideal for anyone, especially kids, adding to the many legitimate and logical reasons people should probably think twice about taking their time to warm up their main source of transportation.
While there are certainly several factors to take into account, there are other easy ways to get the car to the right warm temperature in the winter.
