Friday, June 17, 2011

Green Choices: Green Mowing


I retired the gasoline mower this week-- no more feeling guilty about lawn care.

I know that small engines pollute even worse than motor vehicles, and have been looking into alternatives.  I chose the Neuton mower, electric powered, with rechargeable battery.
  • 270 million tons of pollutants per year are emitted by lawn/garden equipment.  After mowing with a gasoline mower, my clothes and body are saturated with hydrocarbon smell. That means I'm breathing toxins.  Neuton emits no fumes.
  • 800 million gallons of gasoline per year are used mowing lawns in the U.S.  Neuton recharges with 10 cents worth of electricity.
  • 17 million gallons of gasoline per year are spilled refueling lawn mowers in the U.S.  Neuton uses no gas or oil.
  • Gasoline mowers are noisy.  Neuton produces one-fourth of the noise of a gas mower.

4 comments:

Dave and Kym said...

Brilliant!! I wish more people knew about stuff like this.

www.the-runningdiaries.blogspot.com

BLD in MT said...

I love my old fashioned rotary mower! I've heard of the kind you got, but haven't been around one in real life. Question: is is quiet? In addition to the gas guzzling the tremendous noise was the thing I most hated about conventional mowers. I always wondered about the electric ones.

Good for you and happy mowing! I bet you'll feel a lot better as you mow your green grass with your green mower!

Vern said...

The manufacturer claims it makes 1/4 of the noise of a gasoline mower. After using it twice, that sounds about right. Not silent, but pretty quiet!

Good for you on the rotary mower! That's the greenest of all of the options!

BLD in MT said...

I could probably handle that much noise. A 3/4 reduction is a pretty big difference in volume.

Ah, yes, the rotary mower is the greenest, but it is only ideal if you have a small yard space (we do) and mow every single week so that the grass doesn't grow so long that the job becomes a mower-strangling nightmare. (I only had to deal with that nightmare once in order to quite quickly learn to love the mow every week routine).

But don't get me wrong, I LOVE my old-timey mower.