It’s that time of the year again… temperatures are dropping, leaves are gone, and the first snow has already fallen. Time again to think about wonderful things like frigid weather, cars that won’t start, and ice fog!
Probably everyone in Fairbanks knows you need to plug in your vehicle when it gets cold outside – to avoid wear and tear on the car, to say nothing about improving our air quality. However, at what temperature do you need to start plugging in? Twenty below? Zero? Actually, your car should be plugged in at anything under 20° F ABOVE zero!
According to a new study by the National Research Council, vehicles will start from 0° to 20° F temperature range without preheating the engines – leading most drivers to plug in less frequently above zero than they do below. However, starting a cold engine produces much higher carbon monoxide (CO) emissions than does starting a preheated one.
Ok, so what? Why should a little more CO matter? For one thing, Fairbanks is one of only seven cities nationwide ranked by the Environmental Protection Agency as a "non-attainment" area for CO pollution – meaning Fairbanks has exceeded the acceptable level of CO in our air multiple times in the past five years. Inhaling CO reduces the amount of oxygen delivered to all body tissues and can result in headaches, nausea, asthma or other respiratory conditions and, in larger quantities, can result in a coma or death.
The main source of carbon monoxide pollution is motor vehicle exhaust, with the worst emissions coming from the first few minutes of running a cold engine. Cold-start emissions contribute an estimated 45% of all motor-vehicle emissions in Fairbanks. Considering that five of the last six times we exceeded the standard occurred between 0° and +20° F, cold starting vehicles is thought to be the reason for these violations. Using an engine block heater at all temperatures below +20° F can cut these emissions by about two thirds.
That’s not to say you need to keep your car CONSTANTLY preheated. Once home at night, if you don’t need your vehicle until 7 or 8 the next morning, there’s no need to keep it heating all night. The same with the eight hours or so you’re at the office. If you won’t need your car again until 5 pm, there’s no need to keep the engine warm during that entire time. This just wastes energy and money and can be conveniently avoided by installing a timer and/or a power saver cord.
According to GVEA, engine heaters will generally warm the engine to the maximum attainable temperature within 3 hours. Running the heater any longer than this creates an unnecessary expense. Use a timer to turn on your engine heaters 1 - 3 hours before you wish to leave. In the process you save energy and money (up to $60.00/year on your electric bill).
Power saver cords (available through GVEA) are another way to save energy and money while preheating your car – especially if you might need your car for occasional errands while at work and won’t know two to three hours ahead of time to plug it in. Power saver cords allow electricity to pass to the engine block heater to heat the engine up to approximately 40° F. At that point, a switch in the cord is automatically flipped to turn off the electricity to the heater. When the engine has cooled down to about 20° F, the switch is flipped back and the electricity once again passes to the heater. In this way, the engine is kept preheated without wasting unnecessary energy. Power saver cords are conservatively estimated to reduce each vehicle’s preheating energy use by about 40% over an engine heating season (when temperatures are 20° F or below).
Plugging in protects your car and your health. Timers and power saver cords protect your wallet and conserve Alaska’s resources. So plug in, time it and have a great winter!
