Truck Stop Electrification To Fight Pollution

Sometimes the simplest things can make a big difference. The Climate Trust is funding a project in Oregon and Washington state to electrify truck stops so that when truckers stop for their 8-10 hours federally-mandated rest stop, they don't let their diesel engines idle overnight to power air-conditioning and other electrical devices. Frankly, we don't know why it took so long and why it is only happening in Oregon and Washington. This seems like a fairly basic thing, and I'm sure it would be cheaper for truckers to pay for a little electricity than for a night's worth of diesel fuel.

The benefits of the project are obvious: A reduction of greenhouse gas emissions; even if the power coming from the grid is not clean (yet), it is produced at a significantly more efficient rate than a single diesel engine running at idle speed. It also cleans the air for truckers and neighbors, saves fossil fuel and money, truckers sleep better without noise of engines, making for safer roads, and noise pollution is reduced for neighboring communities.

The Climate Trust truck stop electrifying project has a lifetime of 16 years (which we suppose is the amount of time they will help fund the electrification - it doesn't mean it will stop after that), and the results should be the equivalent of taking 16,000 cars off the road (a reduction of 90,000 metric tons carbon dioxide, in addition to all the NOx and other smog-forming emissions).

::Truck Stop Electrification, ::Shurepower, via ::EWire