Daraine Luton, Sunday Gleaner ReporterIF ENGINES could cry out, maybe Jamaica's energy bill would be a bit lower.
Nationwide, idle vehicles are unnecessarily burning fuel, particularly outside Gordon House.
Energy Minister Clive Mullings is now convinced that the matter needs attention.
"I was in a private capacity and somebody mentioned a certain activity of idling and running AC (air conditioning)," Mullings tells The Sunday Gleaner.
"I have raised it with the ministers quietly, but you are quite right. We can't sit down and be running AC like that. It is a waste of energy. Sadly, one would expect that a quiet word would suffice, but it seems we would have to develop a policy," Mullings says.
This newspaper kept close watch on the practices of chauffeurs who take government ministers to Parliament and found that several of them have the vehicle engine idling as the ministers conduct parliamentary business.
Thursday, April 10, was one such day.
Audley Shaw is making his debut Budget Debate presentation as finance minister inside Gordon House. Seated beside Shaw is Prime Minister Bruce Golding.
Shaw packs some big punches as he opens the debate. The country's energy cost as well as the need to reduce it were among the issues which rolled off his tongue. However, outside Gordon House, the Government's talk seems cheap.
Comfort
Unknown to Prime Minister Golding, his own Volvo motor car is unnecessarily contributing to the increased fuel bill.
For some reason, the prime minister's driver decides to ignore the conventional wisdom of switching off the vehicle. His comfort, instead, takes priority. Lights are on, windows are up and the air conditioning presumably active; all this for over two and a half hours.
Last year, The Sunday Gleaner witnessed Portia Simpson Miller's driver leaving the engine running for nearly two hours in anticipation of her arrival.
This practice of drivers allowing state-owned vehicles to burn fuel unnecessarily has been a long-standing habit. It is the daily practice of people driving government and company vehicles.
While The Sunday Gleaner's attempt to get local energy experts to comment on the cost of idling to the public purse bore little fruit, in Canada it is a matter that has been the subject of academic work
Inactive laws
The Canadian Energy Conser-vation Department has estimated that three per cent of Ontario's fuel is wasted by idling engines. An idling diesel engine will burn about 2.5 litres per hour. An idling gasolene engine will burn about 3.5 litres per hour. Ten seconds of idling uses more fuel than restarting the engine.
If the Ontario study is to be adapted to the local situation, it would cost taxpayers at least $175 every hour that the prime minister's or any other government vehicle engine is idle. Ontario has enacted laws against idling motor vehicles. An idling by-law is aimed at improving air quality in the city. If caught illegally idling, the vehicle operator faces a fine of up to CAN$5,000.
Aside from the unnecessary fuel cost which has to be borne because of idling engines, contaminants from vehicle exhaust emissions are major contributors to deteriorating air quality.
Recent studies in Canada have linked a number of contaminants from vehicle emissions to significant respiratory health problems.
The by-law limits idling to no more than three minutes in a given 60-minute time period. The by-law allows transit vehicles to idle when picking up or discharging passengers and also allows limited idling when transit vehicles are waiting for passengers.
Close observation of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company operations and loading of buses at the state-of-the-art Half-Way Tree Transport Centre reveals that many buses on short routes remain idle for up to 20 minutes until the dispatcher gives the go-ahead for them to leave.
daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com
