Noisy, Polluting Leaf Blowers Are Finally Going Electric
In much of the northern hemisphere, the time of year is nigh for both brilliant fall foliage and its inescapable corollary: the persistent drone of high-powered leaf blowers. This year, however, may be just a little quieter.
Leaf blowers aren't just autumn's loudest hardware — they're also hurricanes of pollution. Blowing just one hour's worth of leaves with a gas-powered machine produces about as many smog-forming chemicals as driving 1,100 miles in a Toyota Camry, according to the California Air Resources Board. After years of pressure, those chemical (and audible) impacts are now pushing US municipalities to ban gas-powered tools, and presenting an opportunity for a new class of electric options. As those alternatives become more powerful and affordable than ever before, the American lawn is finally starting to go green.
“It's a better way to do business — better for the environment, better for the guys, better for the clients,” says Jared Kocaj, owner of Outdoor Digs, a small landscaping company in New Jersey.
A small cohort of noise- and climate-conscious homeowners started switching to electric blowers and mowers years ago, but the most important shift will come from companies like Kocaj's: commercial landscaping crews that dominate lawn-gear purchases and keep their machines in constant use. The average commercial lawn mower, for example, runs 406 hours a year, or 17 straight days, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
By some measures, the emissions from those machines are piling up even quicker than those clouding US highways and interstates. In 2011, the most recent year of data available, gas-powered lawn equipment accounted for 43% of the country's volatile organic compound emissions and 12% of its
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