Switch to Electric Lawn Equipment

Summary: Replace gas powered lawn equipment with electric powered equipment

Description

Tired of your noisy and smelly lawnmower or string trimmer? Try replacing your gas powered lawn equipment with electric powered, battery operated machinery. 

Mowing for an hour can generate as many greenhouse gas emissions as driving 300 miles! It is also a significant source of many air pollutants. As for leaf blowers, the NYT points out the high level of environmental pollution caused by two-stroke gasoline-powered leaf blowers. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/25/opinion/leaf-blowers-california-emissions.html

When it’s time to replace gas-powered landscaping equipment, switch to battery-powered.

Electric landscaping equipment, like mowers, trimmers, chainsaws, and leaf blowers,  produce no emissions and pollutants, and are less noisy (as much as 20 decibels quieter) than their gas-powered counterparts. 

Also, electric landscaping equipment require almost no annual maintenance. The new models are just as powerful as gas-powered lawn maintenance equipment. There are even electric drive-on mowers!

Check out this Consumer Reports article for more information. You can also purchase electric grills, electric pressure washers and electric snowblowers! 

Littleton Electric offers rebates (in the form of a bill credit) for electric lawn equipment. Rebates are limited to one per eligible product listed and cannot exceed 50% of the purchase price.  You may qualify for up to the following amount:

• Riding Lawn Mower-$200
• Push Lawn Mower- $100
• Leaf Blower- $40
• Chain Saw- $40
• Hedge Trimmers- $40
• String Trimmers- $40

TIP: if you electrify all your powered garden tools, just buy them all from one brand so you can have several battery packs that can be switched between tools.

Visit the Littleton Electric website to see eligibility requirements, restrictions, and specifics of how to apply for your rebate.  Do this first, before you make your purchase! And, make sure to keep your receipt to submit.

https://www.lelwd.com/greenrewards/cordless-equipment-rebate/

Call LELWD at (978) 540-2222  or email them at info@lelwd.com for more information.

Do yourself and your neighborhood a favor and use electric equipment and hand tools rather than the loud gas guzzlers! 

Deep Dive

An estimated 121 million pieces of gas powered lawn equipment are used each year in the United States, representing a significant source of local pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

The small gas powered engines in lawn equipment are exceptionally bad for the environment and are less regulated than cars. 

Many of the lighter products like push mowers, tillers, and leaf blowers use the two stroke engine which is especially harmful because they do not burn all the fuel within the engine itself -- instead, they throw out a lot of the unburned lubricating oil which is very inefficient and polluting.

Read an article in the Atlantic about how a writer and activist worked to get leaf blowers banned in Washington, DC.  

Check out a study from scientists in the Boston area estimating emissions from lawn and garden equipment. 

Steps to Take

1. When you replace your lawn equipment, purchase electric powered, battery operated equipment. It will reduce your greenhouse gas emissions as well as noise pollution.
2. You might prioritize replacing the equipment you use the most and/or the ones with two stroke engines since they’re the worst polluters. 

• Note: Does your equipment use the two stroke or the four stroke engine? If you mix the gas and oil before adding it to your machine, it’s a two stroke, and if you add the gas and oil separately to different tanks, it’s probably a four stroke engine, which is only somewhat less polluting. Two stroke engines, such as many leaf blowers, also tend to be louder and are major culprits of noise pollution.

3. If you hire a lawn care company, find one that uses electric powered equipment. 
4. Use hand powered tools when feasible -- for example, rake your leaves rather than blowing them. (Or leave some of them in place to add nutrients back into your lawn.)