Greening the Lawn...Even Mow

September 06, 2008

This week the Environmental Protection Agency announced new, stricter pollution standards for lawn mowers, as well as weed trimmers and pleasure boats. Lawn equipment will need to produce 35 percent less hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxide, starting in 2010 for some equipment and the following year for anything that has 25 horsepower or less.

The EPA anticipates that this will mean manufacturers will start to put catalytic converters in their products, while the New York Times reports that the new standards will likely mean higher prices for consumers. Even though 2010 is a few years away, now seems like a good time to poke around for trimmer alternatives.

Curious to see what could replace garden variety gas guzzlers--besides manual push mowers that work well for small yards but are a small step up from sickles--I found the Tesla Roadsters of the lawn world. If you're environmentally-conscious and have the luxury of green grass outside their windows, you probably already know about these and might even have one parked next to the petunias. For those who don't, here's a sampling:

The Remington Cordless PowerMower. This sleek baby runs for an hour off one charge, which takes less than a day to power up. Your grass probably won't be growing faster than that. Costs about $450.

The Neutron CE 5.2 Battery-Powered Mower. It looks like the VW of mowers, but comes without the pollution. Like the Remington, it gets an hour off a charge. According to the site, it's also super-quiet. Costs $350 (on sale).

Black & Decker's Electric Mowers. Running in the $150-$250+ range, these handy mowers are sold at box stores and online.

Clean Air Gardening Electric Mowers. Any site with a 1950s-style logo that sells a mower called "the Prison Reel Mower" has my attention. This eco-friendly gardening store's electric mowers are in the $300 range, look like they hold up, and get the job done fast--long before the charge tapers off.

There are far more options out there, and just about all of them will make your neighbors happy.

Photo: Bike-powered manual mower. Credit: Sara Baier.

Comments

[Geoff Dabelko]

The push mower ethic is well advanced in Greenbelt, Maryland where we even have the Greenbelt Reel Lawnmower Society Precision Drill Team Society performing at the Labor Day parade. Best viewed to be believed -

[Alyssa]

Geoff, that's incredible! Thank you for posting.

[Lex]

Now, that's not fair to the reel mower (manual push mower). They are a far cry from sickles. In fact, if you keep a well maintained lawn, they work wonderfully...and they have no carbon footprint. Even the $100 model works well if you keep the blades sharp (easy), and for $400 or so you can have German knife edges.

And, the way that they cut is better for the turf...clean cuts rather than hacked apart.

Of course, if it's about keeping up with the Joneses...

Great stuff Geoff!