Ontario to Award Grants for Anti-Idling Devices

Ontario trucking companies will be able to apply for provincial grants for anti-idling devices, thanks to a $C15 million program by the provincial government, the Ontario Trucking Association said Monday.

Applications for the grants, which will be awarded to help offset the purchase of devices such as auxiliary power units or in-cab heater technologies and hybrid or alternative energy vehicles, will be available Nov. 28, OTA said.

Companies will have to collect data on the fuel savings from the green technologies as part of a longer-term effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The grants to help operators invest in fuel saving technologies are “a good first step that is consistent with the industry’s enviroTruck initiative,” OTA said in a statement.

The program is retroactive to August 2007, the launch date of the Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty’s Go Green Action Plan, which includes ambitious targets for greenhouse gas reductions by the Canadian freight transportation sector.