Gas-powered blowers being banned...
 

From USA Today:

Gas-powered leaf blowers have been around since the early 1970s, but over time, the lawn care device has received criticism from angry neighbors and eco-conscious lawmakers, some of whom have issued bans citing pollution, noise and health risk concerns.

From the state of California to the District of Columbia, bans against the sale of gas-powered leaf blowers continue to pile up. In Washington, D.C., under the Leaf Blower Regulation Amendment Act of 2018, companies or individuals who use gasoline-powered leaf blowers are subject to fines of up to $500 for each offense.

In California, lawmakers passed AB1346, which banned the sale of gas-powered leaf blowers and weed whackers by July 1, 2024.

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I'm not necessarily a "Green" person, but. Known fact that 2-cycle gas engines are sources of CO2 and pollutants.

I am a bit biased here, as we have an EV and a lithium batt golf cart. Love them both.

Irritating when following gas golf carts and especially thru tunnels. When we play golf with folks we try to lead the GC pack on the course paths. A few of our friends have newer gas carts and the fumes are... not good.

I'm TOTALLY certain that these comments will fall on deaf ears and eyes. Of course, and no one will then sell their gas cart. Freedom in the USA is great.

EVs and Lithium batt golf carts have come such a long way the last few years. And for many reasons we chose to go with both. (BTW 90miles range on our Cart, 341 on our EV). NO maintenance and they leave our garage with a tank full of electrons. Oh, forgot we have a lithium batt powered lawn mower and accessories.

It might be quieter if landscape companies here used lithium powered blowers and trimmers. There are times where they noise is pretty non-stop given people use different companies and get service on different days.

Most lawn equipment made nowadays are 4 stroke or electric. Which electric taking over. The problem IMO most lawn equipment used by landscapers have remove baffles in mufflers of leaf blowers making them twice as loud. The fine mash screens get carbon up and won’t let exhaust air out not letting blower to rev up, so they just remove baffles rather than scrape carbon off. It will take another 10 years or more when they ban gas lawn engine equipment cause take that long to wear them out. Electric blowers are not much quieter cause moving lots of air under pressure makes noise.

Electric blowers are not much quieter. Moving large amount air makes noise.

If your concerns are residents mowing and blowing with gas powered anything. My bet it’s few and far between north of 44. They pay for that service. South of 44 rarely see landscaping trucks, seems about 70% mow themselves with electric

Hmmm , California and Washington DC. Add that to the long list of reasons I’d never live there.

and at $6 per gal. in cal.

CO2 is 0.04% (that’s .0004) of the earth’s atmosphere. Up slightly from 0.03%. If it gets to 0.02%, plant life is not sustainable.

If you think a weedwacker or a blower in the Villages is going to impact the atmosphere one way or the other, especially vis a vis the amount of co2 being added tot he atmosphere by China and India, I have a bridge to sell you.

I have a Dewalt battery blower down there in the Villages and it seems okay for the little bit I need for the driveway. But up here in Massachusetts I would be screwed if I couldn't use my Echo Gas unit. I have way too much property and patio, leaves, acorns, etc. The battery powered would essentially be useless.

I have a lithium golf cart now. I actually sold my 2024 Yamaha Quiet Tech to buy the lithium. But only because I found the gas to be too loud and smelly, as the OP noted. I'm not particularly concerned about CO2.

It won't be long, before TV doesn't allow any new gas carts ... then we just have to wait for the legacy carts to die off.

Based on sales figures, there aren't many new gas carts getting sold, these days.

On the other hand, the automobile world is changing fast ... away from EV's.

:1rotfl::1rotfl::1rotfl:

We have electric cart just we could hear each other when driving.

And what is producing the electricity to charge all of the electric golf cars here in TV land.

Burning of TV trash?

The contention that electric power is "cleaner" power, is simply marketing nonsense, as long as the USA is forced to produce electricity from fossil fuels. If folks finally get their heads out of their nether regions and we start producing electricity from nuclear power plants, the equation probably changes.

I thought villages trash was hauled to Georgia?

Where are you getting your information about golf cart sales? It seems Yamaha Quite Tech is still the top selling model.

Obviously, you have "bought" into the electricity can solve all of our problems and I have to admit that your efforts are admirable. You start with electric blowers. I have also gone the route of electric blowers. No big deal for you or I with our dainty lawns. If an EV works for you, great. Same with the Golf Cart.

But that doesn't work for everything. Jet engines have fans. Electricity is not ready for that. Even a simple snow blower is not ready. Are emergency vehicles ready for electric only? Ambulances, Firetrucks, police cars? Are apartment occupants able to have EVs?

But back to gas blowers. We have landscape folks making a living mowing lawns all day long. They mow, edge, and blow all day long. Is there equipment available that can do that without carrying huge amounts of batteries? Perhaps they could recharge batteries from a gas powered generator on the truck.

Do what you can, but EV's are not yet ready for everyone, Cost, infrastructure, and usefulness.

Your discussion regarding driving behind Gas Carts and arranging your order so you are in front is cute. That must be a discussion item amongst your golfing group


.

The Toyota RAV$ is the top selling automobile model in the USA. They represent 3% of the USA vehicle market.

1 out of every 10 golf carts sold in the USA, is powered by gasoline. Being the "best selling gas model", gets you to about 3%-4% of the market.

All my lawn equipment is electric; I don't do it to save the earth or because of the noise or that it is less expensive than gas.
I do it because it more convenient, no trips to the gas station, no smell of fuels in my garage.
Though it is less expensive for home use I not sure it would be for professional services that are out in the field all day using their equipment.

1) an increase of one third from 0.03% to 0.04% is not "up slightly";

2) the level was below 0.02% 20,000 years ago and there were plenty of plants around then;

3) of course eliminating one weedwacker of blower won't make much difference, any more than my dropping one piece of trash will make TV look messy, but if we all did it...

4) always blaming the Far East for something that the West started decades ago is disingenuous

It is the spark arrestors that are being removed to increase the performance of gas carts and lawn equipment. Spark arrestors are only required for equipment sold in CA to help reduce wildfires. (That's working out well). Lithium powers is not the long term solution for electric powered cars and equipment. Dry cell batteries will be the long term solution as they have numerous advantages over lithium namely longer range, faster recharge, lighter weight, reduced precious metals, AND no fire danger.

I have a battery operated leafblower that's very light and works well. However, I'm not blowing leaves for a living.

My battery leaf blowers don't last too long. I always keep 2 charged so they will last long enough to clean the driveway. I get 2 to 3 years before they are useless. Still use my old gas blower for anything more than a leaf on a slick surface.

I had Dewalt e leaf blower for a while. It was ok for light work and small yards here with very few leaves.

But it didn't have near the power my Echo gas blower that I had in Indiana. It wouldn't be practical there to blow a lot of leaves.
Needless to say when we moved here full time, I sold the Dewalt and brought my Echo here.

I also had a Stihl e mower I bought new at Ace hardware, thinking it was the way to go. Stihl is top quality and the mower had great ratings. But it just didn't cut and bag as well as I expected it to.
So I sold it and bought a new Honda gas mower and haven't looked back.

Fact is, there is no perfect solution and either alternative can work, depending on the situation. I would not want to be on an electric airplane but have no problem with electric lawn stuff, mower and I own an electric car. So, instead of reducing everything to one option, let’s leave the door open to all options and eventually a break through in technology will give us better options in the future and the capitalism model will choose the best alternatives. Laisser faire!

Yet John Deere is selling electric triplex mowers to mow greens on golf courses, but electric power equipment can't handle a 3000 sq. ft. lawn in TV or blow your little driveway clean?

It's not just the gas blowers that are loud. I have an electric blower, no battery, I have to drag out the extension cord, and it is loud. I use hearing protectors when I use the blower. What will be banned next?

Professional Service
 

A professional service would never be able to maintain enough charged batteries to do a days work. Even if they could, the amount of lithium waste they generated would be tremendously high.

I'm the OP. I said in my post that I am not really "GREEN". so why the personal diatribe??? I went with battery powered due to the efficiency, quiet, no fumes, and ease of use. period. My choice. And yes, we dislike driving behind many gas carts. The fumes, esp in tunnels is not good. I didn't BUY INTO anything. (OBVIOUSLY) yikes.
So yes, it's MY CHOICE including being first on the course cart path if I can.

My choice - free country as they say...

So why are pushing your dribble on rest of us. It’s also free country for us too.

OMG - "pushing dribble"??? the hate here. I posted, what I thought, would be an interesting article. But apparently this pushed buttons for some.

As some say here, you don't have to read it. I don't agree with some stuff on TOTV, but move on.

BTW - for the THIRD time - I AM NOT A GREENIE!!! And totally support our current admin. Just decided over time to go electric. No dribble. Just my CHOICE. geeeez.

Talk about banding gas lawn equipment been going on for years few state has banded it or are trying to band. Been hash over here couple times. And results are always same electric do good ers on one side and fossil fuel ancients on the other. One thing for sure. Every thing green or anything else made from fossil fuels, by fossil fueled equipment and minded by fossil fueled equipment. Ever big electric earth movers, diggers, and trains with Hugh generators are driven by Hugh diesel engines.

Gas
 

Drank all of the kool Aid, none left for me, and so thankfull.

Using national sales numbers, where sales are dominated by golf course usage, many carts are leased, and range is not a dominant factor. Not a comparable statistic for the personal transportation use in the Villages, where range is a very important factor and people don’t lease, they buy to own long term.

It’s kind of an urban versus rural thing, in terms of lot size. All of our lawn equipment in the Villages, where we own a postage stamp lot, is electric. All of our lawn equipment up north, where we own multiple acres, is either gas or diesel. Electric would simply not be adequate to meet our needs up north. The same holds true for landscape companies, electric simply would not efficiently meet their needs, even if they are servicing postage stamp lots one at a time all day long.

We have a gas mower, and an electric hedge trimmer, weedwhacker, and leafblower. We find this combination to be the most efficient for our household, plus the electric tools make less noise, which is a good thing.

Just a knee jerk reaction, but perhaps live in an area with like-minded folks?

I have a gas cart for exactly the opposite reason ! 😂

Gas Powered Generator
 

Lawn services could have a gas powered generator on a trailer running all day to keep the arsenal of battery packs charged for the lawns they do.

Sure better hope your EV does not catch on fire in your garage