![]() ![]() Vanden Brook plans to follow the retrofit route and use federal funds pay for it. Shut down devices can be factory installed when equipment is ordered or retrofitted with a variety of aftermarket products. “Maintenance tends to require more technical knowledge and ability than the old days,” Vanden Brook says, “so technician training plays in pretty heavily.” ![]() But on the down side, they require maintenance that not all fleets can provide. Idle limiters are money-savers and cut down on harmful emissions, thus meeting state and EPA standards. The options are numerous, Vanden Brook says, and they can be as simple or as complex as the circumstances require. It can also be programmed to continue running, depending on how the idle limiter is set.” As the name implies, the sensors detect the ambient air temperature, and if it is below a certain degree or above a certain degree, shuts down the engine along with the heater or air conditioner. Or you can use ambient air temperature sensors that tie into the idle limiter. “If it’s very cold-like today in Wisconsin, it’s five below zero-you have a different parameter setting. The shut-down time can vary, says Vanden Brook. Vanden Brook says newer computer-controlled engines have a parameter that allows them to be programmed to shut off after a pre-determined amount, such as three minutes or five minutes, of idling. “Heavy diesel trucks and some of the newer off-highway machines now have idle limiters.” “That’s where our fuel is primarily consumed,” he says. Vanden Brook installed idle limiters mainly on his on-highway equipment. Moltzen’s message in 2005: “The Three R’s-retrofit, replace, reduce idling.” Fleet managers have paid attention, including Bill Vanden Brook, CEM, fleet service superintendent for the City of Madison (Wis.). Moltzen informed managers that federal funds were available to implement such technologies. ![]() Limiters are timed to turn off the engine, as a rule, after three to five minutes of idle. Moltzen’s recommendations included auxiliary power units, small engines that provide power to the main engine without idling advanced truck stop electrification for long-haul rigs and automatic shutdown devices, sometimes called idle limiters. The rub, however, is to impress on vehicle and equipment operators the importance of turning engines off when work isn’t being done.ĭuring a 2005 meeting of the Great Lakes Regional Pollution Prevention Roundtable in New York, Mike Moltzen, Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, encouraged fleet professionals to use current technology in addition to operator training to reduce idling time. By eliminating engine idle time, equipment-management professionals plug up a big hole that wastes fuel, and simultaneously, they rid the environment of health-damaging pollutants. The idling reduction technologies are organized by the technology type and listed by company/model.įor additional information and further details, fleet managers should see the instructions for Form 720, Quarterly Federal Excise Tax Return, which can be found at or contact Stephanie Bland or Celia Gabrysh at the IRS, (202) 622-3130. The exemptions are part of the Energy Improvement and Extension Act, which became effective October 4, 2008. Fleet managers who have idle limiters on mobile or stationary equipment could be exempt from paying federal excise tax on the devices. ![]()
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