After a long day trucking freight, finding 10 hours of comfort while on the road shouldn�t be too much to ask, as the requirements for comfort are fairly simple: maintain electricity and a reasonable temperature inside the cab. To achieve the minimal needs, a truck typically has to idle.

As many transportation professionals know, however, idling can be difficult while on the road. Currently, 35 states throughout the country have anti-idling laws. And depending on the state, the laws vary in severity from outlawing more than three minutes of idling to exempting hours of service idling.

Add the rising costs of diesel and increased focus on protecting the environment, and finding a comfortable place to rest while complying with hours of service requirements can be challenging.

But two truck stop electrification (TSE) options are focused on making life on the road easier, cheaper and more environmentally friendly: Shorepower and IdleAire.

Using a $22 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, Oregon�s Cascade Sierra Technologies, a nonprofit focused on reducing fuel use and emissions from diesel engines, partnered with Shorepower technologies to create a new TSE system. For only $1 per hour, Shorepower TSE offers air conditioning, heat, wireless Internet and cable television, so drivers can turn their engines off while resting.

Since idling uses 1 to 1.5 gallons of diesel per hour, the new technology is as cost-effective as it is good for the environment. In fact, Shorepower estimates owner-operators could save $4000 per year in fuel costs just by using their TSE.

Shorepower�s TSE is currently offered in only eight locations, all of which are in the Pacific Northwest. Unless you frequently find yourself in Washington and Oregon, you won�t be able to take advantage of Shorepower.

But TSE is beginning to take off in other areas of the country.

IdleAire, the original TSE provider, entered the market years ago and offered amenities like filtered heat and air conditioning, high-speed Internet access, movies on demand and 120V electric outlets at 131 locations in 34 states at their peak. But financial problems, including a 2008 bankruptcy, caused the company to close in January 2010. After searching for investors, IdleAire is reopening some of their original sites. Four locations in Texas and Illinois are again functional, three should open this week and a dozen more are scheduled to reopen soon.

Although IdleAire does not expect to reopen all of their previous sites, they are scouting new locations, as well.

Obviously, these TSE options are available at a limited number of truck stops, but both companies� growth � and the government�s investment in TSE technology � leads me to believe you will soon find more opportunities for comfortable, quiet, cost-effective rest on the road.

But what do you think:

Have you ever used IdleAire or Shorepower?

What do you think of the anti-idling laws?

Is TSE the way of the future or a passing fad?