Ottawa promotes a silly scheme for fighting climate change: Don't warm up your car on frigid winter days!
?I lived in Anchorage, Alaska, when I was a young lawyer. After experiencing a couple of Alaska winters, I thought I knew all about cold winter weather.
Then, I flew to Fairbanks on a February day for a one-day business trip. That's when I learned that winter in Anchorage is like a summer vacation in Florida compared to winter in the Alaska interior.
I rented a car from Hertz, and a Hertz agent drove me to my assigned vehicle, where my car's engine was already running. The agent advised me not to turn the engine off for any length of time but to keep the vehicle running for the whole day.
I drove into downtown Fairbanks and saw all the cars parked along the street had exhaust fumes spewing out the tailpipes. Nobody turned their car engines off!?
Why? Because the odds are good that a car won't start if left in the open for a couple of hours when the temperature is minus 20 degrees Fahrenheit.
I hear it gets cold in Ottawa, Canada, in winter, cold enough for wise motorists to let their cars warm up for a few minutes before venturing out on the roads. Nevertheless, the practice of warming a vehicle adds to pollution.
The City of Ottawa recently passed an ordinance making it unlawful for the town's motorists to pre-start their cars for more than sixty seconds to cut down on carbon pollution.
I confidently assert that the citizens of Ottowa will ignore this law until hell freezes over. I also predict that deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning will increase as winter drivers surreptitiously warm their cars in closed garages.
Almost everyone accepts that our climate is warming and that industrialized societies should take prudent steps to reduce pollution. But let's be sensible.?
Billions of dollars have been invested in electric cars, yet these vehicles have downsides. One commentator noted that?if an electric vehicle is fueled by electricity generated at a coal-fired power plant,??"it could be worse for the climate than a modern hybrid that still uses [a combustible engine]."
If we want to reduce our nation's carbon footprint, why don't we do the simple things first? Let's eliminate the drive-through windows at fast food restaurants rather than allow motorists to idle their cars for 20 minutes while waiting for their orders. Let's make overweight Americans park their gas-guzzling SUVs and waddle inside the local McDonald's for their Big Mac and fries.
As for Ottawa's ban on warming up cars in winter, I wish the city good luck.?I wouldn't comply if I lived in Ottawa, but I'm a typical American who hates almost every type of governmental regulation. Don't tread on me, yada, yada.
Perhaps Canadians are more law-abiding and compliant by nature than Americans and will consent to drive to work on frigid winter mornings in coffin-cold cars. But I doubt it.