Greeener Lawnmowers: Lose The Gas!

This week the Environmental Protection Agency announced new, stricter pollution standards for lawn mowers, as well as weed trimmers and pleasure boats. Lawn equipment will need to produce 35 percent less hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide, starting in 2010 for some equipment and the following year for anything that has 25 horsepower or less.

The EPA anticipates that this will mean manufacturers will start to put catalytic converters in their products, while the New York Times reports that the new standards will likely mean higher prices for consumers. Even though 2010 is a few years away, now seems like a good time to poke around for trimmer alternatives.

Read the full story here

Comments

[mamacat]

Lawnmowers (and other yard tools) that use electricity from a cord are cheaper than a gas powered mower, you never run out of gas, and the electricity is cheaper per unit of work done than a comparable amount of gas. And then there is the difference in pollution.

I imagine that commercial gardeners are going to have some problems with the new rules. I guess they will have to charge more to their customers.

[jackpinesavage]

As a lawn mower and the guy at the garden center that you ask for advice about how to grow your lawn, i can say with confidence that the modern versions of the human powered lawnmower are the best idea. (assuming you have a normal sized, suburban lot...and if you've got more grass than that, think of something better to do with some of that soil)

They always start and never run out of gas. The only maintenance is blade sharpening, but that's astoundingly easy. They do, however, have a tough time with tall grass and weeds. But keeping the grass regularly trimmed forces it to spread and thicken, choking out the weeds and reducing water consumption. Don't bag the clippings and you're regularly mulching the yard, which helps on water usage and builds soil structure.

A thick lawn is the best way to stop weeds. It can be achieved with no/minimal chemicals (get your soil chemistry right and use the right type of seed). It will need water, especially in sunny spots, but think about using the sunny spots for other plants.

(i turned 1500 square feet of weedy rental property yard of sand into a very nice lawn in a summer and a half of less than moderate effort - i hate lawns - with a few bags of lime, a reel mower, and quality seed. I water infrequently at this point, though water conservation isn't an issue one block from Lake Superior.)

[Huffingtonposter231]

What are you saying.....everyone should go to a push mower where human power turns the blades? I used to try and use one on my yard. I had trouble on slopes, slightly wet grass, etc etc. I finally tossed it and bought a self propelled. It's been great.

You get out there on an 85 degree day in high humidity and push a push-mower around.....I'll fire up the self propelled and roll on through it!

The answer is battery power, plug it in to the house or trail a cord behind the mower, I've seen those too. Build carbon free nuclear power plants to charge them along with all the other alternative sources we can add to the mix.

The problem is the left has kept us from building the carbon free nuclear power plants our nation needs to fight global warming.

[Palemoon]

Since when has the "left" done that? And who were they? Did you somehow forget that the GOP has been in control for 12 of the past 14 years, in both houses of Congress and the Presidency? What stopped them building these plants?

Incompetence I suspect. I'm called a liberal and I'd sooner support a nuke plant than a coal plant any day.

[Palemoon]

This is just the type of post I've been looking for, lol. Thinking about getting my elderly father a gift of a cordless weedeater that uses rechargeable batteries. I see where places here in town like Wal Mart and Sears both sell an affordable Black & Decker type of cordless weedeater. Anyone have alot of experience with them? I thought of getting the motorized ones, but cheap ones use that horrid gas/oil mixture and I don't think he'd like that. And the ones that use regular gas cost almost double, eek! My parents have a big yard, so there's no way I can replace his riding mower that he needs since he's 78 and has a pacemaker/defibrilator combo installed inside of him. And hate to see him stressing out and working on an old push mower he tries to use for trimming where the riding mower can't get. So I thought a gift of a cordless weedeater would be perfect wouldn't it? I'm entertaining any and all suggestions, lol. :)

[KayeOh]

I have both Sears brand and Black & Decker brand cordless weedeaters. I love them both. The one downside is that they are both pretty heavy, because of the rechargeable batteries. I don't remember whether they came with shoulder straps to help support the weight. Each one runs about 45 minutes on a charge cutting pretty heavy bushy weeds. (That is about as long as I can stand weed whipping anyway. ) Our yard is large and with a lot of natural vegetation around the edges. They are much quieter than the ones with engines and it is so nice not having the whiny motor sound and fumes. Also, they always start right up, no flooding the engine, etc. I strongly recommend them .

[drumz]

Good idea but just make sure you recycle the batteries (or tell him where) because you will probably need a new one every 2 years or so depending on use.

[Palemoon]

Thanks for the answers. Didn't think about the battery life, but I suppose a battery or two every 2 years is probably cheaper in the long run than all that gas, plus all the less pollution. And as far as the weight, I didn't think about that, so thanks for that tip! I suppose I'll see for myself how heavy one is before purchase I suppose. And whether they come with a shoulder strap thingy. Thanks again you two. :)

[ProgressiveGoat44]

Its about time the Goremans were able to produce on their agenda.

[drumz]

Right, after being unfairly lambasted by the ridiculous right. Change takes time lizard brain.

[calgary]

We have developed this big lawn culture and spend billions of dollars and countless man hour taking care of it. We posion our environment by trying to kill all the weeds that make our lawn so unsightly. Our lawns will go in the way of big SUVs.

[todoke]

It is about time the government and the EPA took more steps in curbing pollution from lawn mowers and other small engines. Lets take it to the manufacturers next. I read on http://www.lawnmowersworld.com that lawn mowers produce as much pollution as driving a car so many miles and with so many people mowing their lawn it is no wonder it is so polluting.

[MGhamma]

Set the throttle on your lawnmower as low as you can to mow your lawn, and you reduce your carbon footprint for your lawn by 50+%. Think about that.

[totalliberal]

Lawns are stupid.

[way2muchsense]

Overgrown lawns are stupid. What you need, if you don't want to cut the grass, is something to replace the lawn. In desert climates, that's fairly easy to do. In the Northeast, where it's as green as Ireland during the growing season because it rains all the time, you either put up with overgrown grass, weeds, and the neighbors' complaints about same, or you cut the damn grass. That doesn't mean I need to bombard my yard with chemicals (I went into a screaming fit the last time my wife sprayed Roundup on some thistles in our yard and left big brown spots). I have dandelions in the spring, and clover all summer. So does the public park.

[Exusian]

I've never owned a gas mower. I've used an electric mower for almost 20 years, on my second in fact, both bought used (the first one eventually rusted out). Before them I used an unpowered spin push mower. But then I have a small lawn by choice. I've never understood the fascination with a grass monoculture.

[sheila]

there is a cute article in the LA Times today about using GOATS for lawnmowers:

http://tinyurl.com/682uzy

name another kind of lawnmower that can also make AMAZING CHEESE!

most people don't need lawn anyhow. wasted water, lots of herbicides and fertilizers, and doesn't absorb much CO2. better to do native landscaping, and/or a gorgeous organic fruit/vegetable/flower garden.

[vipersdad]

There are two goat/mowing services up where I live. They have mostly used them for weed abatement, but I will admit for all the goats they had on this one plot for as long as they had them, it didn't seem too effective and they had to go in with string trimmers and finish the job to make the area fire safe. Having said that, there are articles on the web like this one (http://www.cal-ipc.org/symposia/archive/pdf/Proceedings2003.pdf) That talk about how to effectively use them

I sincerely doubt that they would work well for a front lawn.

While I agree that people don't need a lawn, it's part and parcel to the whole notion of the American house/American Dream. The house with the picket fence and the pathway that splits neatly cut lawn which gives way to manicured flower beds.....yadda, yadda...

In addition, many planned communities have front lawns built in to CC&Rs, so you would have to change the entire community mindset. It will take a generation to change this type of embeded thought process, if not longer.

If we were to push this issue too hard, there would be backlash from Mr. and Mrs. Middle America.

[drumz]

You better restrict them or they will eat all the good stuff first. Plus, it is very expensive.

[Triangle1]

I remember the lawn mowers that were powered by a human simply pushing it. No engine. And you burn off extra weight. It's a win-win situation. Surely these are available and much more advanced than they were back in the 1970s. http://mespace.wordpress.com

[vipersdad]

They are exactly the same as they were in the 1970's, the 60's, the 50's and before that.

Why mess with a proven product?

[JBS]

Yeah, and I remember when I was 10 years old, my daddy decided I was going to be the human power pushing that mower from then on.

Well, I did.

But I took it up and down the street and cut the neighbors grass too, 1/4 acre lots @ $1.50 a pop. Before that summer was over, I'd earned enough to buy myself a mower that didn't require human power to push.

With a power mower, it took less time and a lot less work to cut the grass in more yards. Spending money and more free time. Definitely a win-win, but it left me with a life-long aversion to cutting grass.

Now, I own the house, and since there ain't nobody paying me to cut it, the grass gets cut once a month whether it needs it or not.

[TXfemmom]

I have wondered for a long time why they did not impose requirements on the lawnmowers. I read that mowing an average size lawn with one of these things puts out more carbon dioxide and other things than driving a car for a week. Besides, the electric ones do not sound pollute, either.

[KillTheMessenger]

How many gallons of gas do you put into your lawnmower? How many gallons do you put into your car for a week?

There is your answer regarding CO2... unless your lawn is really huge, your car wins that contest.

Now, in terms of CO, NOx and unburned hydrocarbons, that's a different story entirely. There your lawnmower most likely has an edge over your car. In case of that CO that "edge" ends up binding to your hemoglobin for days. Which kind of explains why mowing the lawn is so awfully tiring... it isn't... really... it's just awfully poisonous.

:-)

[CaptainZero1969]

It's about time. The industry has successfully fought off these regs for decades. A gas lawn mower puts out many times more smog inducing pollution than a modern automobile. I've gone to a corded mower and it works great, requires less maintenance and is a LOT quieter. And yes, smaller lawns or no lawns would be better still as they are a source of nitrogen fertilizer runoff pollution into storm drains and require lots of precious water to keep up.

They should be doing this now, not in 2010. The technology exists to do this but business simply doesn't want to make the investment. In today's environment, I think a greener gas mower would be a competitive selling point! Yeah, i know that's naive.

[Semaj51]

The person who wrote this article does not seem to have much personal experience cutting grass. Asking an average home-owner to put down $350+ for an electric lawn mower which will not cut an average lawn in one charge, especially if its high, will be difficult.

[TXfemmom]

We are talking about survival of this country and the earth, and $350 is not too much to ask. Give up colas three times a week, and pay for the lawn mower, or better yet, plant with plants which do not require weekly cutting. The other alternative is for two, three, or four families to go together and purchase one, and that would make it even better.

[vipersdad]

No I think there is a serious issue here.

If we push too hard on this "lawn issue," there will be minions on the conservative side who ridicule us. Mr. and Mrs America who work so hard on that front lawn don't want to change, so they will glom on to whichever person sides with them.

I know that lawns are silly and cause all kinds of problems. If they want to advance the adoption of a clean lawnmower, they need to work on the battery life and provide some kind of incentive (tax credit?) for people who purchase them.

We need to think like people who are.... well, .. not ... us.

[Tergenev]

Not true.

I've been mowing an 'average suburban lawn' for 5 years around our house using a Neuton electric lawnmower. http://www.neutonpower.com/ I bought an extra battery for it, figuring I'd need it to take care of the whole yard. I've only ever needed the extra battery twice, when I had let the lawn get REALLY tall (college finals). So now that the first battery has worn out (5 years) I have a replacement already on hand. And I mow grass in Florida, where the grass is tough, and grows faster'n I can run, some days.

I figure that I've saved about $150 so far on the gas and oil I haven't had to buy.

Plus it starts up every time with the push of a button and I NEVER HAVE TO PULL a DAMN cord!

[KillTheMessenger]

Now here is a thought for you that really matters:

"Lose the lawn!"