How much $$ have we made Danny?

Sometime this summer I saw a kid riding one of those stretch cargo bikes pulling a trailer. In the trailer was an electric push mower, electric weed whacker and electric leaf blower.

Now, I happened to be working in another city when I saw this, but if I knew of anyone doing that in my neighborhood I'd give them a contract for my yard right then and there.

My lawn tends to look shabby because I travel for work so much in the summer, and I refuse to pay anyone else to burn gasoline for a different result. I feel bad enough about burning some to do it myself.

 

I'd ordinarily say Pennsylvania is too far of a drive for a gardening job, but in less than 10 leaf blower sessions for a 1/2 hour, I'd actually pollute less round trip than a leaf blower would.

 

I use a corded electric; cost me $99 CDN over a decade back. Extra hassle with cord, not the same oomph as gas, but not bad.

 

The battery swappable ones are awesome. Just have multiple, large batteries and two chargers. It will then outlast this human's endurance.

Bob Wilson

 

Awesome costs though?

 

Start cheap and then add batteries and spare charger over the years. In a perfect world:

• Starter kit: blower, mower, pole chain saw
• Update year: extra battery and charger
• Advanced: extra battery and tiller
• Fun kit: stand on scooter with 300 lb load and charging solar cells
• Cooking kit: burner, broiler, and battery

You don't buy everything at once but have a staggered purchase for birthdays and Christmas gifts. But each kit designed in the $250-350 range.

Bob Wilson

 

When we were kids, we’d walk around the neighborhood asking for work. Raking, mowing, shoveling, whatever.
Times have certainly changed. Now, everyone wants to make money online

 

I have some trouble believing that my blower ...Stihl BR430...that holds just under 60 ounces of gas and runs at full throttle for 45 minutes on that tank actually pollutes as much as touted.

Love battery tools but have not seen any blower that approaches the power of the 430. What used to take a Long Full Day with handtools now takes 2-3 hours

 

you'll notice musk hasn't built any electric starships yet

 

• Using electric actuators for steering engines.
• Starlink uses ion engines for orbital management.

Bob Wilson

 

It's a two-stroke engine, and theoretically you are using 50:1 premix fuel. So right out of the gate its emissions are filthy compared to any four stroke engine, let alone one with the benefits of a sealed lubrication system, fuel injection and a catalytic converter in the exhaust chain.

Now, Stihl has good engineering overall and they have worked on making theirs cleaner than their competition, but that just makes it the best of a bad bunch.

 

There are multiple pollutants to consider. This article isn't very specific, but first suggests unburned hydrocarbons. CO and NOx I'd also believe.

But for CO2 emissions and climate change, not even close, the car emits much more.

 

^ fair distinction and refinement.

 

The level of directly hazardous emissions; hydrocarbons, NOx, and CO, emitted by an ICE device is not a proportional function of the amount of fuel burned. The car will burn more in that time, but its design results in a more complete, cleaner burn, with exhaust systems to clean up what does manage to come out of the cylinder. Then even the car's fuel system is much better sealed against evaporative emissions. So emissions running or parked are less with the car than the leaf blower.

CO2 emissions are directly related to the amount of fuel burned. So less from the leaf blower. Like with the car, an electric version results in even less, if that is the concern.

 

Matters if the electricity is from a cord or battery too?

 

In terms of use, the losses in using a battery probably don't make much difference. For lifecycle emissions, it will depend on how long the battery lasts. It's like the EV to ICE comparison. More emissions to make the EV, but in use levels result in less overall over the lifetime.

I haven't gone looking into the actual numbers, but I bet the corded model beats them all.

A main motivation for me to switch from ICE for lawn tools was in avoiding the fumes. Lower CO2 was just a plus.

 

There's a growing body of research around ototoxic chemicals- substances that cause hearing loss and balance issues. Carbon monoxide is pretty far up the list.

The combination of high noise levels and CO in outdoor power tool usage is a big reason why my stuff is almost all electric. I wear two forms of hearing protection when operating the gas powered tractor and snowthrower.

 

Our corded electric leaf blower is pretty loud; I almost always wear ear protection muffs (unless I forget to bring along somewhere other’n at home).

 

blowers are loud by nature. some cities and towns have banned them, others limit hours of use.

the landscape lobby is fairly strong with our legislature