WATCH: Like saving money and fuel? Cut back on idling

• Repeat offenders could face $150 fines
• Enforcement will be complaint driven
• Campaign will hinge heavily on education and creating better idling habits

It burns more fuel to let your car idle for more than 10 seconds than it does to turn it off and back on again.

Pair that with the fact over half of Kelowna’s greenhouse gas emissions come from transportation and it’s no wonder the city is working to get people to wean themselves off idling.

“If you are going to be stopped for more than 60 seconds, except in traffic, turn your engine off,” Regional Air Quality Coordinator, Nancy Mora Castro, said.

Lawmakers have given staff the OK to develop an anti-idling bylaw to cut down on unnecessary vehicle emissions.

The proposed bylaw would focus on education over enforcement, with only repeat and egregious offenders being dinged with a $150 fine. Investigations would be complaint driven, Mora Castro said. It’s expected maybe nine or 10 people will face tickets each year.

The law will have a one-minute idling grace period and not apply to people waiting in traffic. Drive-thrus will be included, as a survey found 96 per cent of vehicles idled for about four minutes while waiting in line.

Exemptions will apply for things like emergency vehicles, perishable cargo trucks, and mechanical tests.

Mora Castro said the law would have a six-month grace period, with a massive educational campaign planned during this time. She said the goal is to work on changing behavior and making it the norm to idle for under a minute.

Data from Natural Resources Canada shows the average Canadian idles for six to eight minutes per day. If Kelowna drivers – all 63,000 of them - cut out one minute of idling every day, over 1,580 tons of CO2 would be saved each year. The drivers themselves would save about $20 on fuel.

Boost that number to three or six minutes of reduced idling, fuel savings jump to $59 and $118, and almost 9,500 fewer tons of CO2 would be pumped into the atmosphere.

City councillors overwhelmingly support the move, with Coun. Mohini Singh wanting bolder action to address climate change.

Coun. Brad Sieben agreed education is key and warned enforcement must be selective to avoid the city chasing its tail.

“Top of mind is the key,” he said. “No loitering signs, underneath them, tend to congregate quite a crowd. … But I think it’s a positive public awareness effort.”

Coun. Loyal Wooldridge said the “stick isn’t what changes behavior,” adding the bylaw will help make people more cognisant of their behaviour.

An anti-idling bylaw has been tossed around City Hall since 2010, but the trigger was never pulled.

More than 80 cities in Canada already have similar rules, including 45 places in British Columbia, as do several European nations and American states.

Schools in Kelowna have been no idling zones since 2009. The same survey that found drive-thrus to be idling hotspots recorded just six per cent of cars idling at elementary schools.

It’s anticipated a bylaw will come back before lawmakers in a couple months for consideration. Once passed, a 180-day grace and educational period will precede the regulation coming into force in late 2022 or early 2023.