North slope businesses benefit from new practice: idle-reduction technology makes sense, saves dollars.

• Author: Resz, Heather A.

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Some ideas just make sense. And some ideas add up to dollars and cents.

Such is the case for idle-reduction technologies in use by more and more companies operating heavy equipment across Prudhoe Bay, according to Terry Howard, director of equipment operations for Arctic Slope Regional Corp. He said collectively idle-reduction technology has the potential to save millions in fuel and maintenance costs for heavy equipment operating in Prudhoe Bay.

"When you put the pencil to it and do round numbers, they go up so fast," Howard said.

Here's a rough look at some of those numbers.

Assume there are about 2,000 pieces of equipment in Prudhoe Bay, each consuming about four gallons of fuel an hour, Howard said.

That means a savings of 8,000 gallons of fuel for every hour that equipment isn't idling, he said. Over the course of 10 hours, that's a savings of 80,000 gallons.

Howard pushed his pencil a little further and estimated that each gallon of diesel fuel delivered and pumped into fleet units costs about $7.

That means the entire fleet of 2,000 vehicles could save as much as $560,000 during a single 10-hour shift, solely by reducing idle times.

"It's definitely a gold mine," Howard said of idle-reduction technologies like Temp-A-Start, which ASRC uses. "Collectively, across the North Slope, there are millions of dollars of saving in this."

These 14-pound "gold mines" can be installed after purchase, but increasingly manufacturers like Detroit Diesel, Cummins and Mack Trucks are licensing the patented Temp-A-Start technology for factory installation on their products.

Either way, Howard said idle-reduction systems are a good investment. Purchased and installed, he said the units cost about $3,700; though they save more than that in a single season through reduced fuel and maintenance costs.

"You almost can't put them on fast enough," Howard said. "After the first season, everything goes right to the bottom line."

He said all of the heavy equipment ASRC adds to its fleet will come with factory-installed idle-reduction systems.

NEW APPLICATIONS FOR EXISTING TECHNOLOGY

Idle-reduction technology isn't new. The Temp-A-Start system was invented in the 1980s, but hadn't been applied to construction equipment until ASRC had the first North Slope wheel loader outfitted with an idle-reduction system in 2005.

"It took a real leap of faith to shut that machine off in Deadhorse and wait for Temp-A-Start to fire it back up," said EMI...