Text and photos by Mark Brumley
- Introduction
- Just like home
- Good for truckers and the air
- Praise for Piedmont EMC
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Big rigs burn about a gallon of diesel fuel an hour just idling to keep truck drivers comfortable inside their cabs while they stop for mandatory 10-hour rest breaks. At today’s prices, that costs a trucker about $2.25 per hour, not to mention what it costs in polluted air. In a year’s time, a single rig can burn more than 2,800 gallons of diesel fuel just idling. Idling has been a common practice for years, but it’s rough on engines, drivers, truck owners’ profits and the environment. In some states, idling is coming under fire by regulators as a source of pollution and waste.
IdleAire Technologies has built an alternative truck stop system that’s spreading around the country and catching on with the trucking industry and governmental air-quality officials. Based in Knoxville, Tenn., IdleAire is partnering with America’s largest truck stop chains to build electrified overhead systems that allow drivers to stay in their rigs and enjoy central heating and air conditioning, TV, computer, phone and other amenities without leaving their engines idling.
The first IdleAire facility in North Carolina held its grand opening last October, with 60 slots for trucks just off Interstate 85/40 in Mebane near the Alamance-Orange county line. Located at the Petro truck stop at 500 Buckhorn Road, IdleAire is served by Piedmont Electric Membership Corp., which is headquartered nearby in Hillsborough.
Founded in 2000, IdleAire plans to add about 80 spaces to its Mebane location in the near future as part of an aggressive expansion plan in the southeastern United States and Texas.
Next year (in 2005) is when we’re really going to put in a lot of these,” said John Jones, IdleAire’s construction supervisor who worked with Piedmont Electric officials on the Mebane site. “We’re on schedule the first part of the year to put in 70 to 75.” He calls them “TA’s” or Travel Centers of America. After that, Jones said, IdleAire wants to build 180 more all over the country.
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