Just in time for autumn, a guide to what you need to know, about the most polluting form of machinery still in legal use in the US. Fortunately, it won't be for long.
Thank you for an interesting article, I just joined this is my first post.
What I think is important about a forum like this is *the actions* it inspires. Information without follow on is just data, but a lot of folks taking small steps can really shape trends. From this article I learned leaf blowers are more destructive to the environment than cars. That makes me want to make a positive change.
I am fortunate enough to have a gardener. But shortly he and his crew will no longer be using 2-cycle gas operated equipment on my yard as a condition of service. I will have a discussion with him about alternatives and I will fund a battery-based equipment upgrade including a portable charging solution that will work from his truck.
But one thing is clear from looking into this, there are very few capable (professional quality, durable, long run time) battery-operated landscaping equipment providers out there. None of the spec's I can find come close to matching gas powered alternatives.
I think until there are some solutions that match existing products (performance, reliability, durability), even if they are more expensive, there will be a lot of push back about moving this industry into a more green posture.
I agree that battery-powered alternatives need to get better, faster. We have a chronicle of their improvements here: https://www.quietcleandc.com/qcdc-in-the-news I will do updates on this site.
Thank you Jim, for your continued work. The Pensacola Environmental Advisory Board discussed the issue tonight, and is now working to advise the City Council how to proceed with establishing reasonable rules (we hope). One Board Member reached out to a large landscape company owner who contributes to an inordinate amount of neighborhood cacophony with 2-stroke blowers and trimmers, and said residents can either have leaf blower noise or generator noise ... a 'heads I win tails you lose' mentality that disrespects neighborhoods and our right to enjoy the quiet of our own homes.
Not long ago, four gas leaf blowers operated next door by commercial landscapers registered 79 decibels at the property line and 75 decibels at my son’s bedroom window. They went on for hours, and there was not a spec on the lawn afterward. But if an airplane takes off from Reagan airport and triggers a noise device at 72 decibels, the noise is deemed a violation and the airline can be cited and fined (DCA Jeppesen Chart 10-4A). Think about that … landscapers creating neighborhood noise louder than an airport.
John, belated thanks for your note — and for your stalwart involvement in this issue. And, yes, the disproportion between this source of noise (and pollution) and others is striking.
We plan to be in PNS in about a month's time, and will look forward to learning more on-scene.
Since it does reference your contributions to the cause, I hope the source is not an irritation (I think they still believe in science in New Haven...); however, I am guessing your alma mater published this before your first public writings on the subject:
All that said, I am sad to say that the towns in Central Massachusetts are too conservative to embrace this goals, and it's an equally difficult suggestion to get considered by our HOA, but now I'm wondering if this company that I just found in Concord, https://www.ecoquietlawncare.com/, could make a case to local landscapers.
You don't mention the other biggest source of two-stroke engine pollution -- outboard motors on small boats -- which California regulators started tackling in 2001.
Yes, thanks. When we were organizing meetings across DC from 2015 to 2018, we gave the illustration of other sorts of two-stroke engines that were being reined in — including two-stroke motorboat engines, which the National Park Service was starting to restrict around then.
What you have never (to my knowledge) acknowledged is that until the last couple or three years electric powered leaf blowers were so weak as to be essentially unusable even for non-commercial uses. I had one (Black & Decker) for several years. I would rate it as marginal for blowing grass clippings off the driveway. For anything more like actual “leaf blowing” it was useless. Battery powered models are finally a viable option but you can’t blame people who do this for a living for not converting sooner. It was gas powered blowers or brooms and rakes.
Thanks. When we were holding meetings all across DC from 2015 onward, the argument was of "accelerating the inevitable." That is:
- Two-stroke technology is by definition backward, dirty, and outlawed in many other uses;
- Battery technology is improving — if not quite at a Moore's Law pace, then very rapidly. If you have the auto industry, everything about consumer electronics, grid-storage, and many other commercial sectors all rushing to improve the price/performance/power ratio for batteries, then it makes sense to get on the right side of that equation.
That's the point of the final chart in the post above. Batteries are getting better, fast. Two-stroke engines are not. Pretty much every day's paper has an item about battery progress. Many are chronicled here: https://www.quietcleandc.com/qcdc-in-the-news
Two other timing points. (1) The reason that the 2018 DC law allowed a *three year* phase-in period was precisely to allow for these improvements. (2) As I've often pointed out, one ironic penalty for Los Angeles is that they passed a ban "too soon" — back in the 1990s, when batteries weren't really an option.
For the past 3 years, we've insisted that lawn crews for our house use our battery equipment. It's worked fine.
Thank you for an interesting article, I just joined this is my first post.
What I think is important about a forum like this is *the actions* it inspires. Information without follow on is just data, but a lot of folks taking small steps can really shape trends. From this article I learned leaf blowers are more destructive to the environment than cars. That makes me want to make a positive change.
I am fortunate enough to have a gardener. But shortly he and his crew will no longer be using 2-cycle gas operated equipment on my yard as a condition of service. I will have a discussion with him about alternatives and I will fund a battery-based equipment upgrade including a portable charging solution that will work from his truck.
But one thing is clear from looking into this, there are very few capable (professional quality, durable, long run time) battery-operated landscaping equipment providers out there. None of the spec's I can find come close to matching gas powered alternatives.
I think until there are some solutions that match existing products (performance, reliability, durability), even if they are more expensive, there will be a lot of push back about moving this industry into a more green posture.
Belated thanks for your response and involvement. (For reasons described in this post https://fallows.substack.com/p/american-soft-skills-infrastructure , I have been off the grid for a while.
I agree that battery-powered alternatives need to get better, faster. We have a chronicle of their improvements here: https://www.quietcleandc.com/qcdc-in-the-news I will do updates on this site.
This helps: CA Gov bans gas powered landscaping equipment by 2024
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/newsom-signs-law-to-eventually-ban-gas-powered-lawn-equipment-in-california/
Thank you Jim, for your continued work. The Pensacola Environmental Advisory Board discussed the issue tonight, and is now working to advise the City Council how to proceed with establishing reasonable rules (we hope). One Board Member reached out to a large landscape company owner who contributes to an inordinate amount of neighborhood cacophony with 2-stroke blowers and trimmers, and said residents can either have leaf blower noise or generator noise ... a 'heads I win tails you lose' mentality that disrespects neighborhoods and our right to enjoy the quiet of our own homes.
Not long ago, four gas leaf blowers operated next door by commercial landscapers registered 79 decibels at the property line and 75 decibels at my son’s bedroom window. They went on for hours, and there was not a spec on the lawn afterward. But if an airplane takes off from Reagan airport and triggers a noise device at 72 decibels, the noise is deemed a violation and the airline can be cited and fined (DCA Jeppesen Chart 10-4A). Think about that … landscapers creating neighborhood noise louder than an airport.
John, belated thanks for your note — and for your stalwart involvement in this issue. And, yes, the disproportion between this source of noise (and pollution) and others is striking.
We plan to be in PNS in about a month's time, and will look forward to learning more on-scene.
Kudos, Jim, for your efforts in this realm, but here's the item I saw earlier tody that got me started on a more elaborate comment:
'Are leaf blowers bad for us?' » Yale Climate Connections
http://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/01/are-leaf-blowers-bad-for-us/
Since it does reference your contributions to the cause, I hope the source is not an irritation (I think they still believe in science in New Haven...); however, I am guessing your alma mater published this before your first public writings on the subject:
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2017/3/28/landscape-services-leaf-blowers/
All that said, I am sad to say that the towns in Central Massachusetts are too conservative to embrace this goals, and it's an equally difficult suggestion to get considered by our HOA, but now I'm wondering if this company that I just found in Concord, https://www.ecoquietlawncare.com/, could make a case to local landscapers.
Ed, thank you! I am big-tent, when it comes to gathering all potential allies.
You don't mention the other biggest source of two-stroke engine pollution -- outboard motors on small boats -- which California regulators started tackling in 2001.
Yes, thanks. When we were organizing meetings across DC from 2015 to 2018, we gave the illustration of other sorts of two-stroke engines that were being reined in — including two-stroke motorboat engines, which the National Park Service was starting to restrict around then.
What you have never (to my knowledge) acknowledged is that until the last couple or three years electric powered leaf blowers were so weak as to be essentially unusable even for non-commercial uses. I had one (Black & Decker) for several years. I would rate it as marginal for blowing grass clippings off the driveway. For anything more like actual “leaf blowing” it was useless. Battery powered models are finally a viable option but you can’t blame people who do this for a living for not converting sooner. It was gas powered blowers or brooms and rakes.
Thanks. When we were holding meetings all across DC from 2015 onward, the argument was of "accelerating the inevitable." That is:
- Two-stroke technology is by definition backward, dirty, and outlawed in many other uses;
- Battery technology is improving — if not quite at a Moore's Law pace, then very rapidly. If you have the auto industry, everything about consumer electronics, grid-storage, and many other commercial sectors all rushing to improve the price/performance/power ratio for batteries, then it makes sense to get on the right side of that equation.
That's the point of the final chart in the post above. Batteries are getting better, fast. Two-stroke engines are not. Pretty much every day's paper has an item about battery progress. Many are chronicled here: https://www.quietcleandc.com/qcdc-in-the-news
Two other timing points. (1) The reason that the 2018 DC law allowed a *three year* phase-in period was precisely to allow for these improvements. (2) As I've often pointed out, one ironic penalty for Los Angeles is that they passed a ban "too soon" — back in the 1990s, when batteries weren't really an option.
For the past 3 years, we've insisted that lawn crews for our house use our battery equipment. It's worked fine.
Well done! Jim and Debbie!
Thanks Tom!