Everybody Wins

What is the Everybody Wins Program?
Everybody Wins was created by the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency (LRAPA) as a project to reduce diesel emissions from heavy-duty trucks that idle in our community. The project was unveiled on September 30, 2004 as one of the EPA featured projects to reduce diesel emissions on the I-5 corridor. There are numerous public and private stakeholders who benefit from the environmental and economic gains that this project creates.

Diesel emissions from heavy duty truck idling have long been recognized as a large source of fine particulate pollution, and those fine particulates carry toxic chemicals that are associated with a host of respiratory illnesses. In response to the public health risks that the pollution from truck idling creates, the reduction of those emissions has become a priority for the EPA and for state and local air quality agencies.

How does the program work?
LRAPA has developed an innovative approach that is designed to help truckers reduce their idling time through the use of auxiliary power units (APUs). APUs are small generators that are added to the truck to provide heating, cooling, and power for the other amenities that long haul truckers need; all without idling the main engine. The result is a dramatic decrease in idling fuel consumption (~ 80%) and a subsequent reduction in diesel emissions.

Using loan money available from the Oregon Department of Energy, LRAPA is providing low-cost lease-to-own arrangements on the APUs for truckers who spend a majority of their idling time on the I-5 corridor in Oregon. The goal of this project is to develop the infrastructure to support the APU technology on the I-5 corridor in Oregon and to install 100 APUs on heavy-duty trucks. This project will promote the APU and demonstrate to truck drivers the economic benefits of installing an APU.

The program has also attracted attention from APU manufacturers, and increased awareness of idle reduction technologies among the tens of thousands of drivers who use the I-5 corridor in the western states. Many of the APU models also include optional "shore power" connections that enable the drivers to plug in to electrified truckstops when available, which allows them to shut down the main engine and the APU.

With more and more restrictions being placed on idling, the APUs offer an economical and efficient alternative. LRAPA has concentrated on partnering with the trucking industry to make this type of idle-reduction technology more visible and more available to the many long haul truckers who will benefit the most from it.

What are the environmental benefits of the program?

• Conserve fuel - approximately 1 million gallons of diesel fuel over the life of the 100 APUs
• Reduce emissions by 75%-90% over idling at truck stops, rest areas, warehouses, airports, parking lots, residential neighborhoods and anyplace trucks idle.
• Reduces Highly respirable diesel PM (92% less than 1 micron)
• Reduces NO_X, an ozone precursor
• Reduces CO₂, a harmful green-house gas
• Reduces more than 40 toxic carcinogenic and mutenogenic substances found in diesel exhaust.
• Makes improvements to public health. The cost of inhaling diesel exhaust from highway grade diesel is estimated at $2 per gallon for future health care. This project is expected to save about $2 million in future health care costs.

What does the future hold?
The success of the Everybody Wins program has earned LRAPA a significant EPA grant award of $500,000 for a "Truck Idle Reduction Technology Demonstration Program", announced on October 11, 2005. The purpose of the grant is to demonstrate and evaluate how APUs reduce emissions from idling trucks. The EPA is committed to finding practical and reasonable alternatives to idling, and LRAPA will provide the EPA with an accurate presentation of the technology and it's effectiveness in reducing actual idling times, and in quantifying the fuel savings and emissions reductions. The LRAPA proposal that was chosen for this grant is titled Everybody Wins - Phase II, a direct reference to the current idle reduction program that provides a nationally recognized model for effectively promoting APU installations.

Phase II is designed to install 250 more of the APUs on trucks in Oregon and on the I-5 corridor. During the course of the project, LRAPA will work with APU manufacturers and installers to continually improve the ability of the industry to effectively penetrate the growing APU market of small fleet and owner-operator drivers. LRAPA will also continue to collaborate with all sectors of the trucking industry and regulatory agencies as a partner in the development of idle reduction strategies.