$10 can improve life for truckers...and reduce air pollution, noise and fuel consumption

My buddie, Perry, recently pointed out to me that almost everything in my house depended on trucking. It made me pause! Today I discovered more facts and a solution to a big chunk of pollution.

The trucking industry is indispensable cog in the American economy and its importance is growing:

- In 2002, the trucking industry hauled 8.9 billion tons of freight, or 68% of total U.S. freight tonnage.

- 82% of U.S. communities depend solely on trucking for delivery of their goods and commodities

- Professional truck drivers drove 440 billion miles in 2004, a 146 % increase in 25 years.

- There are an estimated 2.6 million large tractor-trailers on the road in the U.S. and half of those have sleeper cabs. The sleepers provide living quarters for drivers because motel rooms are too expensive and their rigs and loads are too valuable to be left unattended. They are required to rest 10 hours for every 11 on the road.

- Most long-haul drivers average 100,000 to 110,000 miles per year; the average daily run for an over-the-road driver is almost 500 miles.

Feel informed? Here are a few more key facts:

- During these rest periods drivers idle their truck engines for extended periods, primarily to heat or cool their living quarters, whether they are resting or waiting to load or unload.

- Most extended idling occurs at travel centers (truck stops), according to the Department of Transportation, but it also occurs at fleet truck terminals, distribution centers, ports and border crossings.

- This extended idling consumes fuel at a gallon or more an hour, creates air and noise pollution, shortens engine life and vibrates the truck cab - unpleasant impacts for the driver, the truck owner, the travel center or other parking location, neighborhoods and for the nation's energy independence.

One innovative company has developed a $10 adapter to help solve this problem: IdleAire's Advanced Truckstop Electrification (ATE) system is being installed wherever long-haul trucks congregate and idle for extended periods. The only retrofit required for any long-haul truck to access the system is the one-time purchase of a $10 window adapter.

Know a trucker...maybe this would make a good holiday gift!