Infographic Design: Idling Car Pollution

Save our Air: Idling cars create air pollution:

As a local Denver Website Designer and Graphic Designer, sometimes I like to use my skills to help educate people to help change their habits for the better. Here’s an infographic I designed as a starting point to use to share with my friends and family on social media on why it's bad to let your car idle/run while you are parked, even if for just a short period of time. For more idling car facts, check out the the www.enginesoff.com website. Is very informative and explains away common myths that idling vehicles don’t pollute much or that cars need to idle for long periods of time to warm up.

No Idling: Turn your engines off and protect the air we breathe. Idling for 2 minutes a day uses the same amount of gas as one mile of driving.

Protect our air, don't Idle. Idling for 2 minutes a day uses the same amount of gas as one mile of driving.

Idling is one of my biggest pet peeves when I ride my bicycle around town – people who pull over and look at their phones for long periods of time while their car is running. You can smell the fumes as you ride by, and as we all know, people don’t have any idea how much time passes while they’re surfing on their devices. I designed this quick infographic to spread the word. Here is a sheet from Engines Off Colorado that talks about City of Denver's Idling Restriction, to download a PDF, click on the image below:

How bad is car idling for the environment? Idling vehicles release harmful chemicals, gases and particle pollution into the air, contributing to ozone, regional haze, and global climate change. It does make a difference, please turn off your car when parked! Source: https://deq.nc.gov/about/divisions/air-quality/motor-vehicles-air-quality/idle-reduction/why-idling-harmful

Protect our Air: Don't Idle. Idling for 5 minutes a day can emit as many as 25 pounds of air pollutants and 260 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

Do idling cars produce more pollution? Yes! An idling engine can produce up to twice as many exhaust emissions as an engine in motion. Idling reduces your vehicle's fuel economy, costs you money, and creates pollution. Idling for more than 10 seconds uses more fuel and produces more emissions that contribute to smog and climate change than stopping and restarting your engine does. Sources: https://www.dudley.gov.uk/business/environmental-health/pollution-control/air-quality/idling-vehicles-contribute-to-air-pollution/ https://afdc.energy.gov/files/u/publication/idling_personal_vehicles.pdf

Here's a great visual advertisement from London about idling car pollution: