I Bought an Electric Lawnmower
Many of my friends know that the division of labor in our house is somewhat different than most. It turns out that my husband loves to cook (and make cocktails!). So, he does the grocery shopping and cooks excellent meals that are often better than what we can get eating out. Yes, I am lucky. :-)
My role is laundry and gardening, which includes mowing our small patch of grass. For years, I relied on a Sears Craftsman mower that started every year without fail. It required nearly a full tank for gas for me to mow our yard. I don’t know exactly how much land we have but suffice it to say that it’s about a 35-minute mowing job. It’s work that I love to do, because it’s an immediate gratification situation. After mowing, I can enjoy the nice lawn as a result, despite the many weeds.
This spring, our Craftsman just gave up. It was about 17 years old, so probably gave us more than we should have expected. As much as I loved my old Sears mower, I knew that an electric (or better stated, battery-operated) mower was my future. Home Depot offered us a discount to buy this machine. It holds a 48-minute charge, which is just enough to complete the job. No more worries about gasoline stored in the garage. No more loud mower noise. And most of all, no more emissions of carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, hydrocarbons, and other nasty carcinogens. I love my new mower, its productivity, and what it means to be using it.
Isn’t it ironic that we work so hard to make a beautiful garden (i.e., environment) and use gas-powered tools that throw off so much GHG that negate the good effects? It got me to thinking about the energy consumption between a gasoline- vs battery-powered lawn mower.
The Outdoor Power Equipment Institute estimates that, on average, people use their lawn mowers for 25 hours a year; this is the equivalent of driving about 2,330 miles. That’s a lot of emissions that are removed from the environment by using a battery-operated mower. (https://www.leafscore.com/eco-friendly-garden-products/the-environmental-impact-of-lawn-mowers/) Of course, we still have to care about how the electricity is produced to charge up the mower.
And I’m not alone. I’ve also noticed that my neighbors are also moving towards more battery-operated tools. In addition to lawn mowers, they have batter-operated weed-whackers and hedge clippers. A friend of ours even has an electric chain saw in his garage. Robotic mowers (like vacuum cleaners) are also handy and environmentally friendly tools to consider.
My new lawnmower is just one step for us. As we think about replacing other tools or our 10-year old vehicle, battery-operated options are clearly becoming more and more attractive for their performance and environmental friendliness.
