California to ban gas lawn mowers and leaf blowers

[CoachKandSportsguy]

California to ban gas lawn mowers, leaf blowers | TheHill (https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/576227-california-to-ban-gas-lawn-mowers-leaf-blowers)

Start getting your electric toys and chargers now, before the rush! I love the electric lawn mover and leaf blower,. . for the small yards up north and in TV

electric guy

[Velvet]

Wow! If we could have quieter service in TV - wouldn’t that be a dream? California is subsidizing the change over, trying for zero carbon footprint. I’m not complaining but I could get used to not being woken up pretty well every day to the sound of gas powered equipment.

[MDLNB]

Wow! If we could have quieter service in TV - wouldn’t that be a dream? California is subsidizing the change over, trying for zero carbon footprint. I’m not complaining but I could get used to not being woken up pretty well every day to the sound of gas powered equipment.


You must sleep late. Most of them don't start mowing until well after 7am. :a040:

[Stu from NYC]

Glad we do not live there.

[Kelevision]

Glad we do not live there.

Why? You love the gasoline?? :a040:

[Kelevision]

California to ban gas lawn mowers, leaf blowers | TheHill (https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/576227-california-to-ban-gas-lawn-mowers-leaf-blowers)

Start getting your electric toys and chargers now, before the rush! I love the electric lawn mover and leaf blower,. . for the small yards up north and in TV

electric guy

I LOVE California!!! Left Florida in ‘93 for southern CA. It’s still my home as well as TV. You can’t beat the weather in SoCal.

[Moderator]

Warning: keep the political/homeless/jobless-on-purpose statements out of the thread or it will be closed.

[Dana1963]

California to ban gas lawn mowers, leaf blowers | TheHill (https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/576227-california-to-ban-gas-lawn-mowers-leaf-blowers)

Start getting your electric toys and chargers now, before the rush! I love the electric lawn mover and leaf blower,. . for the small yards up north and in TV

electric guy
It’s proposed to go into effect Jan 1 2024

[tophcfa]

That would never fly where we live at our northern home. Try maintaining 10 acres with electric powered equipment. On second thought, it could work, as long as they only banned gas but not diesel.

[CoachKandSportsguy]

My 30+ year old Stihl is in the shop needing a few new parts, but CA are just banning the new sales, didn't say you couldn't use one. . . at the moment. They should just stick to lawn mowers and leaf blowers as they are already very many reliable electric options.

They might rethink the gas chainsaws when performing vegetation management around power lines to prevent fires, etc. . . and clearing out round houses . . .

not sure where the moderator gets the proactive connection to homeless and non working people with a gas small engine mandate. . . that one escapes me. . .

[tophcfa]

My 30+ year old Stihl is in the shop needing a few new parts, but CA are just banning the new sales, didn't say you couldn't use one. . . at the moment. They should just stick to lawn mowers and leaf blowers as they are already very many reliable electric options.

They might rethink the gas chainsaws when performing vegetation management around power lines to prevent fires, etc. . . and clearing out round houses . . .

not sure where the moderator gets the proactive connection to homeless and non working people with a gas small engine mandate. . . that one escapes me. . .

Reliable electric options for lawnmowers and leaf blowers might be OK for those with a small lot and not a lot of leaves. They wouldn’t work in my yard, I need a diesel tractor (50 horse Kubota), a gas powered zero turn mower (Gravely with a 48 inch mower deck), both a backpack leaf blower (Stihl two cycle gas) and push leaf blower on wheels (Giantvac), along with a push gas mower for tight spaces (Honda), a good two cycle gas weed wacker (Husqvarna), and my trusty Stihl and Jonsered two cycle gas chain saws. And the tractor, of course, needs a bunch of attachments including a front end loader, backhoe, plow, brush hog, york rake, forks, and a wood splitter. Good thing I don’t live on the left coast.

[Garywt]

You must sleep late. Most of them don't start mowing until well after 7am. :a040:

7 AM is super early. If I need to be up before 9:30-11:30 I need to set an alarm.

[Garywt]

Hope it does not spread, I am heavily invested in my John Deere ride on and my backpack blower. My trimmer is electric though. Down in Florida I have a company doing the lawn.

[Toymeister]

Makita makes some fine electric yard machines.

[Topspinmo]

Probably only in LA. SD, and SF. No way the farming can go totally electric. What they need to and desert state’s is ban golf courses and swimming pools. they ARE runout or water, no hydroelectric power. Anybody watch golf tournament in Vegas week or so go. Golf course in desert looked better than ones in eastern coastal states.

[retiredguy123]

I totally support any law that will ban leaf blowers.

How about a law to ban wind chimes?

[Topspinmo]

Wow! If we could have quieter service in TV - wouldn’t that be a dream? California is subsidizing the change over, trying for zero carbon footprint. I’m not complaining but I could get used to not being woken up pretty well every day to the sound of gas powered equipment.

You’re still going to hear turbine blowing air (movement of large quantities of air) and blades on mower (which makes majority of the noise turning the blades) Just cause it’s electric don’t mean it don’t make noise. IMO only reason gas blowers are real loud cause Rhe removed baffles in mufflers same goes with weed wackier’s.

[Happydaz]

You’re still going to hear turbine blowing air (movement of large quantities of air) and blades on mower (which makes majority of the noise turning the blades) Just cause it’s electric don’t mean it don’t make noise. IMO only reason gas blowers are real loud cause Rhe removed baffles in mufflers same goes with weed wackier’s.

My son in Pittsburgh has an electric walk behind mower that is very quiet. He also has a lawn mower tractor that can rapidly mow his large 1 acre lawn. It has 4 batteries! I operated it and I can tell you it is fast, efficient and very quiet. My neighbor here in The Villages has an electric walk behind mower and an electric edger. I see him mowing but you can hardly hear him. Now what a different story with the lawn mowing crews who show up and make a ton of noise for hours. Definitely affects quality of life. I like to sit on my patio in the morning, but when these guys show up I go back in the house. Electric machines are the future. Noise pollution is not healthy. Come on, I know we are all old here, but can’t we accept the new technologies? Just mention “California” and many Villagers begin to go spastic. I lived there for awhile. It was extremely noisy. Highway and landscaper noise drove me crazy. I moved back to New Hampshire and bought two quiet acres in the woods far from any highways. Unfortunately, The Villages is getting crowded and becoming surrounded by more and more building. Routes 466A and 44 have both turned into another 441. I could do with a little more quiet. Of course, right now I have a gas edger and mower so I am part of the problem, but when I replace them I am going electric.

[jdulej]

The state of California can't guarantee that you will have a steady supply of electricity. The state has placed so many restrictions on the utilities that they can't upgrade the lines in some parts of the state. So users could have a problem getting their mower battery charged.

Some firms are offering battery banks to power the home during an the rolling blackouts. Sort of like a silent generator. It's a funny thing, expensive electricity and blackouts the same thing as Kabul, Afghanistan had. How far the state as dropped.

As a lifelong Californian (until moving here to please my wife and try something new) I can say the PG&E was screwing the California citizen for decades. They had the "old school" politicians in their hip pocket and did pretty much what they wanted with little push back. You name it, they got it, yet we can see the shoddiness of the infrastructure they built. There is some "what goes around, comes around" going on now with a political generation more interested in quality of life of the citizens and holding utilities and large corps responsible for their messes.
Many roll their eyes at what happens in California. I would remind them that change moves east in the USA so get ready for it.

[Arctic Fox]

California to ban gas lawn mowers, leaf blowers | TheHill (https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/576227-california-to-ban-gas-lawn-mowers-leaf-blowers)

Is it just the two-stroke engines, as they are the more noisy and polluting ones?

I have noticed a big difference in TV since the new gas-engined carts started coming on stream - quieter and less polluting. I assume they are four-stroke?

[MDLNB]

7 AM is super early. If I need to be up before 9:30-11:30 I need to set an alarm.
:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

[nick demis]

Warning: keep the political/homeless/jobless-on-purpose statements out of the thread or it will be closed.

It is a political topic. Why was it allowed in the first place?

[Mortal1]

Spoken like someone who has never been there.

get rid of all the people and it's a fine place to dwell.

[Kelevision]

First gas lawn mowers banned that gas cars banned. The only thing that will still have gas is the politicians.

UK is banning gas cars in 2030. I hope CA does too.

[Mortal1]

*yawn* and the wacky people who love battery operated things rarely mention: a)where the electricity comes from(wind turbines and solar panels are not efficient enough to power squat)? b)what power do the companies use to mfr the batteries and mower? c)who mines the materials for mfr and what about their fuel? d)what you do when the batteries and mowers go kaput?

It's amazing to me that some folks just think electricity, mining and spent material just appear and disappear like magic. Very short sighted.

If this post is removed then whoever is making that decision just doesn't want facts to interfere with their narrative.

[jdulej]

*yawn* and the wacky people who love battery operated things rarely mention: a)where the electricity comes from(wind turbines and solar panels are not efficient enough to power squat)? b)what power do the companies use to mfr the batteries and mower? c)who mines the materials for mfr and what about their fuel? d)what you do when the batteries and mowers go kaput?

It's amazing to me that some folks just think electricity, mining and spent material just appear and disappear like magic. Very short sighted.

If this post is removed then whoever is making that decision just doesn't want facts to interfere with their narrative.

There is no denying that a move to a new form of power to drive pretty much everything is and will be messy. Just like moving to our current oil based power infrastructure was messy (to put it mildly). That does not change the fact that it is happening. Hop on the electric train or get out of the way.

[biker1]

Misleading. What they are actually doing is banning the sale of new gas cars in 2030.

UK is banning gas cars in 2030. I hope CA does too.

[Arctic Fox]

*yawn* and the wacky people who love battery operated things rarely mention: a)where the electricity comes from(wind turbines and solar panels are not efficient enough to power squat)? b)what power do the companies use to mfr the batteries and mower? c)who mines the materials for mfr and what about their fuel? d)what you do when the batteries and mowers go kaput? It's amazing to me that some folks just think electricity, mining and spent material just appear and disappear like magic. Very short sighted.

I suspect there were the same, tired arguments 100 years ago when some people thought that a motor car would be better than a horse-drawn cart.

We turn a blind eye to the side-effects of extracting and burning petroleum, and the disposal of old cars, tires etc., yet anything involving what (sorry to have to break this to you) will definitely be the near future sends the Luddites into a tizzy.

Plus ca change...

[Two Bills]

Misleading. What they are actually doing is banning the sale of new gas cars in 2030.

...and as the actress said to the Bishop, "Good luck with that!"

[davem4616]

my son just bought a million+ dollar house in South Pasadena....on a postage size lot, just like everybody else's tiny lot

for the size yard he has mow, an electric/battery mower would easily do the trick...as far as a leaf blower, that's another story.

electric leaf blowers are fine for a small job like clearing a driveway, but not for anything serious

I have a rechargeable leaf blower...I'm forever going to get the rake because I've gone through both batteries and I want to finish the job

[BostonRich]

BTW - Lots of electricity is generated by coal.

[B-flat]

*yawn* and the wacky people who love battery operated things rarely mention: a)where the electricity comes from(wind turbines and solar panels are not efficient enough to power squat)? b)what power do the companies use to mfr the batteries and mower? c)who mines the materials for mfr and what about their fuel? d)what you do when the batteries and mowers go kaput?

It's amazing to me that some folks just think electricity, mining and spent material just appear and disappear like magic. Very short sighted.

If this post is removed then whoever is making that decision just doesn't want facts to interfere with their narrative.

Great post, thank you! Hopefully before any of these whacky ideas are adopted mainstream I'll be dead! I venture to say most of us will.

[jdulej]

BTW - Lots of electricity is generated by coal.

Hopefully less and less. Coal is a dead end.

[Topspinmo]

I LOVE California!!! Left Florida in ‘93 for southern CA. It’s still my home as well as TV. You can’t beat the weather in SoCal.

So, how water supply out there? I here it’s beginning to dry up due to all the expansion in desert, swimming pools, golf course, and green lawn. Las Vegas is probably in bigger trouble?

[Topspinmo]

Hopefully less and less. Coal is a dead end.


We will all be dead, before coal ends. :duck:

[Topspinmo]

my son just bought a million+ dollar house in South Pasadena....on a postage size lot, just like everybody else's tiny lot

for the size yard he has mow, an electric/battery mower would easily do the trick...as far as a leaf blower, that's another story.

electric leaf blowers are fine for a small job like clearing a driveway, but not for anything serious

I have a rechargeable leaf blower...I'm forever going to get the rake because I've gone through both batteries and I want to finish the job

Depends on size?

My EGO electric blower blows just as hard as gas blower when I push the turbo button. (but that burns through battery pretty quick). I can get 7.0 AL battery to last hour plus but battery $350 dollars or more, lasts about 5 years depending on how many times it’s charged up.

[jdulej]

We will all be dead, before coal ends. :duck:

I'm sure you are correct. After all, you can still buy buggy whips today, but I don't recommend it as a growth industry.

[MrFlorida]

I wonder what the commercial landscapers will do, I don't think they make 48 inch electric mowers yet.

[billlaur]

It’s proposed to go into effect Jan 1 2024

Its only the sale of these items in the state, you will still be able to use them...So when this takes effect in 2024 just order from amazon..:a040:

[tophcfa]

Depends on size?

My EGO electric blower blows just as hard as gas blower when I push the turbo button. (but that burns through battery pretty quick). I can get 7.0 AL battery to last hour plus but battery $350 dollars or more, lasts about 5 years depending on how many times it’s charged up.

I can’t agree with the comparison. I own a good quality electric blower for our small lot Villages home. On the regular setting it will blow dry debris from the driveway and on the turbo setting it will manage to blow debris that is damp. It struggles to blow wet leaves out of our gutters on the turbo setting. My Stihl 2 cycle blower that I use at our northern home will blow huge piles of soaking wet leaves and if I am not careful it will blow the rocks right off of the rock wall. I wouldn’t dare try to use the Stihl to clean the gutters because it would blow the shingles off the roof. The comparison is not even remotely close, the Stihl blows category 5 hurricane force winds out a small tube and is an absolutely amazing piece of equipment.

[Topspinmo]

I can’t agree with the comparison. I own a good quality electric blower for our small lot Villages home. On the regular setting it will blow dry debris from the driveway and on the turbo setting it will manage to blow debris that is damp. It struggles to blow wet leaves out of our gutters on the turbo setting. My Stihl 2 cycle blower that I use at our northern home will blow huge piles of soaking wet leaves and if I am not careful it will blow the rocks right off of the rock wall. I wouldn’t dare try to use the Stihl to clean the gutters because it would blow the shingles off the roof. The comparison is not even remotely close, the Stihl blows category 5 hurricane force winds out a small tube and is an absolutely amazing piece of equipment.


Do you own EGO? I didn’t think so, might want Utube electric blower comparison’s.
So, you can’t feather the throttle to control air mass volume? I could with my stihl.

[Topspinmo]

I'm sure you are correct. After all, you can still buy buggy whips today, but I don't recommend it as a growth industry.


Depends on it Amish life style takes off. :)

[charmed59]

When I moved to Los Altos, CA 30 years ago the town had already banned gas leaf blowers. Pockets of California have been moving away from gas powered yard equipment for decades. Landscapers adjusted.

[DaleDivine]

This would certainly put a lot yard maintenance workers here out of a job.
:boxing2::ohdear:

[DaleDivine]

7 AM is super early. If I need to be up before 9:30-11:30 I need to set an alarm.

Our lawn guy hardly ever arrives before 9 A.M.
If I'm not out of bed by 5 A.M. my wife rolls over and asks me if I'm sick...
:bigbow::bigbow:

[LateBoomer]

once what was a great State has degenerated into stupidity. Which is why people and businesses are leaving in droves. I would never ever live there

[Moderator]

My 30+ year old Stihl is in the shop needing a few new parts, but CA are just banning the new sales, didn't say you couldn't use one. . . at the moment. They should just stick to lawn mowers and leaf blowers as they are already very many reliable electric options.

They might rethink the gas chainsaws when performing vegetation management around power lines to prevent fires, etc. . . and clearing out round houses . . .

not sure where the moderator gets the proactive connection to homeless and non working people with a gas small engine mandate. . . that one escapes me. . .
Those posts were previously removed.

[fdpaq0580]

This would certainly put a lot yard maintenance workers here out of a job.
:boxing2::ohdear:

At what size does this rule apply? Are commercial business or government entities exempt? Roadside mowing, brush clearing, forestry? How deep and twisted is this rabbit hole?

Got to admit I don't like the " rrrp rrrp rrrp" of weed whackers and blowers when trying to enjoy breakfast on the lanai every day. ???

[Escape Artist]

You make a lot of good points and I agree with you comments about one party. Until very recently (after the 2016 election) the state was a lot more balanced with southern Cal much closer to a red area. The suburbs could not accept you-know-who. That won’t change until the republican party (or some new party) backs away from full on authoritarian rule it is toying with now
People leaving is totally tied to the cost of housing (IMO)

I don't know when you last lived in CA, but nothing you said was correct. The Bluest part of the state are the coastal areas, including the cities like L.A. and SF/Bay Area that have the biggest populations. Red areas would be Central Valley, the northern counties and eastern suburbs of Sacramento. Orange County, where I grew up and where my sister still lives, was always Red until the last couple of election cycles. You can chalk that up to demographic changes, and not only those coming from south of the border. A lot of other ethnic groups who traditionally vote Democrat.

The recent exodus out of California was purely ideological, including myself and several other members of my own family. The numbers of those who migrated out of CA are actually much higher than news reports because they took them from the 2020 census which finalized its tally in May 2020. Most people I know have left since then. There's also been a huge migration within the state with residents leaving the high priced, crime-ridden dysfunctional areas for more politically balanced and well-run cities and counties which also have less expensive housing and offer a more traditional lifestyle for families. The Washington Post did a big article a couple of months ago about this phenomenon.

[jdulej]

I don't know when you last lived in CA, but nothing you said was correct. The Bluest part of the state are the coastal areas, including the cities like L.A. and SF/Bay Area that have the biggest populations. Red areas would be Central Valley, the northern counties and eastern suburbs of Sacramento. Orange County, where I grew up and where my sister still lives, was always Red until the last couple of election cycles. You can chalk that up to demographic changes, and not only those coming from south of the border. A lot of other ethnic groups who traditionally vote Democrat.

The recent exodus out of California was purely ideological, including myself and several other members of my own family. The numbers of those who migrated out of CA are actually much higher than news reports because they took them from the 2020 census which finalized its tally in May 2020. Most people I know have left since then. There's also been a huge migration within the state with residents leaving the high priced, crime-ridden dysfunctional areas for more politically balanced and well-run cities and counties which also have less expensive housing and offer a more traditional lifestyle for families. The Washington Post did a big article a couple of months ago about this phenomenon.

Orange county and San Diego are examples of large population centers that were reliably red in the recent past

[fishon]

All of the folks that use landscapers are going to be screaming when they get their bill after the switch is made to electric tools.
Any tool or multiple tools that can operate 8 or 9 hours a day will be very costly.
Can you guess who will be paying for them?

[jdulej]

Orange county and San Diego are examples of large population centers that were reliably red in the recent past

I was in a hurry and answered this too quickly, given the thoughtful reply to my original comment.

I grew up and spent the first 64 years of my 71 years in Northern California. In the SF Bay Area for 50 of them, the Sierra Nevada Foothills after that. We thought of Southern California as another state, it was so different. And, they rooted for the Dodgers, which is pretty much unforgivable.
I know many people, both family and work related, who left California for more affordable areas or because they were transferred, but I can honestly say I do not know anyone who left because of a perceived liberalization of the populace or an invasion from Mexico, or too many homeless, or crazy rules cooked up by the state government, etc. And, regardless of where we lived, I always worked in downtown SF, so I know about the homeless situation at least up to 2014 or so.
Southern California went through a bigger transition in turning blue, but I contend that it was the hard, hard right turn of the Right more than (or at least as much as) the left turn of the Left. I could be wrong - I did not live there, It's just my observations.

[Escape Artist]

I was in a hurry and answered this too quickly, given the thoughtful reply to my original comment.

I grew up and spent the first 64 years of my 71 years in Northern California. In the SF Bay Area for 50 of them, the Sierra Nevada Foothills after that. We thought of Southern California as another state, it was so different. And, they rooted for the Dodgers, which is pretty much unforgivable.
I know many people, both family and work related, who left California for more affordable areas or because they were transferred, but I can honestly say I do not know anyone who left because of a perceived liberalization of the populace or an invasion from Mexico, or too many homeless, or crazy rules cooked up by the state government, etc. And, regardless of where we lived, I always worked in downtown SF, so I know about the homeless situation at least up to 2014 or so.
Southern California went through a bigger transition in turning blue, but I contend that it was the hard, hard right turn of the Right more than (or at least as much as) the left turn of the Left. I could be wrong - I did not live there, It's just my observations.

I lived in both So Cal and Nor Cal and have seen many changes both places. Initially, the first big migration out of California started in the late 1990's/early 2000's when home prices started to really go up, culminating in the real estate crash of 2008. People were moving to Texas, Idaho, Arizona, Nevada, Oregon (until it became too much like CA) even Tennessee and the Carolinas. Some didn't like the political direction it was headed, regardless of who was governor, because of the encroaching burden of regulation and accompanying taxes and fees, which can be considerable. Others wanted more house/land for their money, although in places like TX property taxes are higher than CA.

So Cal began to shift blue in the past 20 years or more. It's from demographic changes taking place over that time period ranging from conservative-minded people leaving the state, to older voters (mostly white) who were the Reaganites and John Birch types passing away and being replaced by younger voters who had different life experiences, were more likely to be college educated and liberal/open minded about societal changes, and also an big influx of immigrants, legal or not. The statistics bear this out - "people of color" now are the majority .

Not only were some Hispanics becoming citizens under the various amnesty programs, and then could vote, but their kids that born here were automatically American citizens, so it's not so much those who come here legally or illegally, as they may never attain citizenship, it's the generations that follow. The future is what demographic changes are all about. Also, So Cal has a large population of Vietnamese/Asian (except for Koreans who tend to vote GOP) and Middle Eastern/Muslims and they are Democrat voters.

And that's your Sociology 101 lesson for today :icon_wink: :laugh:

[frose]

yea let's go electric.. wait until you see what that costs.....

[fdpaq0580]

yea let's go electric.. wait until you see what that costs.....

Solar powered engine for smooth and silent driving. Solar powered heat when it's cold. Solar powered air conditioning for when it's hot. And solar powered headlights for driving at night.

[camaguey48]

I LOVE California!!! Left Florida in ‘93 for southern CA. It’s still my home as well as TV. You can’t beat the weather in SoCal.
We are so, so happy you left.

[Bay Kid]

Can't wait to see solar planes.

[frose]

Solar powered engine for smooth and silent driving. Solar powered heat when it's cold. Solar powered air conditioning for when it's hot. And solar powered headlights for driving at night.

and a 200 mile range.. I should by 2 or more.. ridiculous

[Love2Swim]

Studies indicate the major reasons people leave California are absurd housing costs, and very high taxes. Add to that wildfires, high traffic volumes and congestion and earthquakes.

[stan the man]

I don't live in California -

[fdpaq0580]

Can't wait to see solar planes.

While my post about my solar car was tongue in cheek, the truth is Solar Impulse 2 (a plane) made a trip around the world back in 2016. It CAN be done, but not practical yet. Seldom, if ever, is new tech practical in its infancy. But, maybe, someday there will be a practical application.