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Don’t be idle 'Switch it off'

A national vehicle freight watchdog is doing its bit in putting the brakes on climate change in supporting Warwickshire County Council’s 'Switch it off' campaign.

Freight Best Practice is funded by the Department for Transport and managed by Faber Maunsell Ltd to promote efficiency within freight operations in England.

It offers free information for the freight industry covering topics such as saving fuel, developing skills, equipment and system, operational efficiency and performance management.

And Freight Best Practice is committed to Warwickshire County Council’s ‘Switch it off’ campaign, which runs throughout October in a bid to reduce the amounts of wasted energy in the county, and the impact this can have on the environment.

Freight operators across Warwickshire are being called upon to encourage drivers not to leave their vehicles idling, as this not only wastes the company money, but also has a huge impact on the environment.

Cllr Martin Heatley, Warwickshire County Council’s Cabinet member for the Environment, said: “I’m delighted to see Freight Best Practice joining us in getting people to ‘Switch it off’, in this case turning off engines.

“In 2004 there were 8,800 Heavy Goods Vehicles licensed in Warwickshire. If each of these vehicles reduced idling times by just an hour a week it would save two litres of diesel, totalling 17,600 litres and just over 47 tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2) saved every week.”

CO2 is the gas which is directly linked to the causes of climate change and Warwickshire County Council signed up to the Warwickshire Climate Change Strategy in July of this year, pledging to cut the amounts of CO2 being emitted in the county.

The ‘Switch it off’ campaign will also see householders called upon to turn off unused appliances, or electrical items left on stand by.

If everyone in Warwickshire, Coventry and Worcestershire stopped leaving appliances on stand by it would prevent 86,322 tonnes of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere through wasted electricity and save more than £20m (enough to pay the annual electricity bill for 71,953 homes).

For more information on taking steps to ‘Switch it off’ visit http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/switchitoff or call the energy advice hotline on 0800 512012.