Overview:

Summary: Gasoline-powered vehicles lose a majority of their energy as waste heat. Regulating the idling of vehicles can reduce local air tempearture, decrease GHG emissions, protect human health.

Implementation: Enact legislation that limits the amount of time vehicles are allowed to idle.

Considerations for Use: Consider special requirements for school environments where children are especially vulnerable to air toxins.

• Policy Levers: The mechanism municipalities can use to actualize the intervention. These policy levers will likely be used in combination with each other.
  
  
  MandateMandates are government regulations that require stakeholders to meet standards through building codes, ordinances, zoning policies, or other regulatory tools.
• Trigger Points: Opportunities for municipalities to implement risk reduction and preparedness interventions based on the policy lever, building on the United Nations Environment Programme triggers used in the Beating the Heat handbook (2021).
  
  
  City planning processesIncludes city initiatives such as the development of climate action plan, pathway to zero-energy, master plan, transit plan, energy mapping etc.
  No-regrets actions (low cost/low effort but substantial benefit)Interventions that are relatively low-cost and low effort (in terms of requisite dependencies) but have substantial environmental and/or social benefits.
• Intervention Type:
  Planning/Policy
• Sectors:
  Education, Transportation

Impact:

• Target Beneficiaries:
  Heat-vulnerable communities, Residents
• Phase of Impact:
  Risk reduction and mitigation
• Metrics:
  Changes in traffic or congestion

Case Studies:

• NYC Air Complaint Program

Implementation:

• Intervention Scale:
  City, Site
• Authority and Governance:
  City government, State/provincial government
• Implementation Timeline:
  Short-term (1-2 Years)
• Implementation Stakeholders:
  City government, State/provincial government
• Funding Sources:
  Public investment
• Capacity to Act:
  High, Medium

Benefits:

• Cost-Benefit:
  Low
• Public Good:
  Medium
• GHG Reduction:
  Medium
• Co-benefits (Climate/Environmental):
  Reduce air and water pollution, Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
• Co-benefits (Social):
  Improve human health