lgageharleya
“California has already taken the biggest step in banning the engines, which are formally known as “small off road engines,” or SOREs.”
Washington, D.C., has a much stricter ban, barring the use of gas-powered leaf blowers by anyone within the district as of Jan. 1, 2022, and levying $500 fines for violators, unless they’re on federal property. The ban also allows anyone who sees or hears a gas-powered leaf blower to file a complaint – they don’t need a city inspector to witness it.
‘The bans typically apply to new equipment and are popping up from Vermont to California. Proponents say it’s good for the climate, health and noise.”
This is my favorite: “Environmentalists say using a commercial gas leaf blower for an hour produces emissions equal to driving from Denver to Los Angeles.”
“While many critics first attacked the small engines for the noise they make, experts say these small, two-stroke engines release shockingly large amounts of pollution – two problems that modern and increasingly affordable electric-powered equipment solves.” – You can’t turn off people’s gas remotely. Can’t have that.
This comment seems pretty accurate:
Robert
This movement is rife with misinformation. Few if any lawn mowers operate on a 2-stroke motor. Although a lot of leaf blowers do, there are 4-stroke alternatives. And I find it hard to believe that burning a pint of mixed gas in your leaf-blower produces as much pollution as a 1,027 mile drive from Denver to Los Angeles that at 25 mpg would burn up 41 gallons of gasoline.
As for the downside of battery equipment, the article fails to mention that batteries don’t last very long. I have an electric mower for the small lawn on my home in town. I do like it because it is quiet and I can store it on its side, plus there is no gasoline smell in the garden shed. I was able in 2021 to mow my lawn on 1.5 battery charges. It came with two batteries so that was okay. But in 2022 it took 2.5 battery charges; that is how fast the batteries are wearing out. To make this a practical process I had to buy another battery: $300!
So now I use $900 worth of batteries to mow a small lawn. Next summer it will probably be $1200 if the battery fade is consistent. Over the course of a 20 week summer I would have used maybe 5 gallons of gas with a gas mower to do the same thing. Which is more economical and even which is more environmental? These expensive lithium batteries do also come with an ecological cost. (And a huge human cost but greenies aren’t concerned a bit about that.)
better stockup on diesel powered engines. with some modification (admittedly expensive) you can use plant oils. point is not to save money but to have off grid mobility and utilty when the time comes
How about where is all this cobalt, lithium, etc going to come from? The copper for wiring? The electricity? Every country on earth is going all electric at the same time and most by 2035.
Anyone see any urgency? Hiring? Manufacturing ramping up? The economics of that alone would cause prosperity across the globe not seen since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Instead lots of talk and nothing else.