It’s time to ban gas-powered landscaping equipment

Landscaping equipment will soon be electric in California as a new bill banning gas-powered lawn equipment in the state – including lawnmowers and leaf blowers – comes in an effort to limit air pollution. Governor Gavin Newsom (D) signed a law on Saturday that will stop the sale of gas-powered devices with small off-road engines until January 1, 2024. That ban could come sooner if the California Air Resources Board (CARB) says a law is “feasible”.

Not only devices for landscaping are regulated by law. Portable gas operation Generators must be emission-free by 2028, according to the Los Angeles times. On this end date, too, CARB has the final say. The law mandates that all newly sold small-motor equipment primarily used for landscaping be emission-free – essentially must be battery-powered or plug-in – and include all engines that are less than 25 gross horsepower such as lawn mowers and weed trimmers, chainsaws , Golf carts, special vehicles, generators and pumps.

It does not apply to road vehicles, all-terrain motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles, boats, snowmobiles or model airplanes, cars or boats – not yet.

What’s the problem with small gas powered off-road engines?

About 54 million Americans mow their lawns every weekend, consuming 800 million gallons of gas a year and producing tons of air pollutants, the organization said. Man-operated machines. Garden tool engines – which until the late 1990s had unregulated emissions and emitting high levels of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen oxides – cause up to 5% of air pollution in the country and much more in metropolitan areas.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has passed emissions standards to control both exhaust and evaporative emissions from small gasoline engines. They say, that Non-road engines are a major contributor to air pollution. The emission standards concern nitrogen oxides (NOx), hydrocarbons (HC), particulate matter (PM) and carbon monoxide (CO). These emissions contribute to the formation of smog and contain toxic compounds such as benzene, so reducing them benefits our health and the environment. In the Clean Air Act, Congress asked the EPA to set emissions standards that address these issues.

According to the EPA, a new gas-powered lawnmower creates as much air pollution in one hour of operation as 11 new cars, each driven for 1 hour. Using a gas powered leaf blower for an hour causes that the same amount of pollutants are emitted in the air, as does a 2017 Toyota Camry that drives from Los Angeles to Denver, which stretches for about 1,100 miles. For this reason, the legislator is working to curb the emissions of these tools.

“It is amazing how people react when they find out how much these devices pollute the environment and how many smog-forming and climate-changing emissions are produced by small off-road engines,” said Montagemann Marc Berman (D), the author of the law. , according to Los Angeles times. “This is a pretty humble approach to trying to limit the massive amounts of pollution these devices emit, not to mention the health effects on the workers who use them all the time.”

California sets emission standards for new non-road engines and helps professional landscapers with $$

California has introduced its own emissions standards for certain types of new engines, vehicles, or devices used on the road. In these cases, manufacturers must certify their products with CARB; these products are also certified with the EPA, even if no additional requirements apply. There are more than 16.7 million small engines in California, which exceeds the number of cars on the roads by around 3 million.

CARB began work on landscaping regulations after Newsom issued an executive order in September 2020 calling on the state to “move to 100% zero-emission all-terrain vehicles and equipment where possible by 2035”.

The state has allocated $ 30 million to help professional landscapers and gardeners convert their equipment from gas-powered to zero-emission systems. Machines with so-called small off-road engines cause as much smog-causing pollution in California as light automobiles, and reducing those emissions is critical to improving air quality and tackling climate change, advocates for the law said.

Many homeowners have already switched to fully electric garden tools such as lawnmowers and hedge trimmers, as have many cities and universities. A 2019 CARB opinion poll found that more than half of lawn and garden home appliances in the state were already zero-emission.

The law banning small engine gas engines has been rejected by Republican lawmakers, as well as some Democrats, who raised a variety of concerns.

• Residents in rural areas can be particularly affected by the requirement for emission-free portable generators.
• Battery devices would have a limited charge during power outages.
• The $ 30 million grant may not fully cover the estimated 50,000 California small businesses that will be affected by the law.
• Emission-free commercial devices tend to cost more than parallel gas-powered devices.
• The battery devices may not have the efficiency ratings of the existing gas-powered lawnmowers, leaf blowers, and other small machines.
• Batteries are an uncertain cost and a crew may need to carry multiple batteries to complete a daily schedule. (Those naysayers need to check the charge built into the new one Ford F-150 Blitz.)

Berman said these concerns are being addressed, and the law specifically requires the California Air Resources Board to adjust restrictions on generators based on their “expected availability” of that equipment in the commercial and retail markets.

Final thoughts on all-electric landscaping equipment

Matt Harrison, a longtime civil servant, said that Washington Post His initial skepticism about using all-electric landscaping equipment was that the electric versions wouldn’t be powerful enough or would die too quickly. “It proved me wrong,” he admitted. Harrison now uses all-electric mowers, blowers, weed whips, and chainsaws. “You don’t have to wear hearing protection,” he explained. And “You don’t have to worry about smelling like gas when you get home.”

Organizations like that American Green Zone Alliance (AGZA) stand ready to help outdoor-oriented businesses and communities transition from small gas-powered appliances, including training in EPA and CARB compliant devices, power tools, and battery-electric options. “It’s just exploding,” said Daniel Mabe, Founder of AGZA. “We stand on the brink of a revolution.”

Of course, electrical devices are only part of protecting the environment. A sustainable farm also requires new approaches to irrigation, fertilizer and pesticide use. We need to rethink cultural norms that equate a successful middle class life with a spacious green lawn. We need to grow more drought tolerant crops, remove invasive crops, introduce crops that attract pollinators, and support biodiversity where possible.

And we should rethink the energy we use to light our outdoor facilities. For example, a small but growing number of Golf courses are now turning to solar energy systems to either power their operations directly or to feed electricity into the local utility’s grid to offset their utility bills.

Until these types of landscaping replace the All American front yard and our favorite outdoor gathering spots, mowing, blowing, and trimming will be weekly chores. Electrifying everything is a really good start.

Photo by Carolyn Fortuna, CleanTechnica

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