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California Is Banning Small Engines. Here's What It Means
The Drive ^ | 10/14/21 | Rob Stumpf

Posted on 10/15/2021 7:41:50 AM PDT by Yo-Yo

CARB says there are 16.7 million small engines in the state compared to 13.7 million passenger vehicles, drastically affecting emissions.

California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed legislation that aims to ban the sale of gas-powered lawn equipment, generators, and other small engines designed for off-road use.

This new law builds from the executive order signed by Newsom in 2020 that bans the sale of new passenger cars powered by internal combustion engines in 2035. In the same order, Newsom calls for "100 percent zero-emission off-road vehicles and equipment," the phaseout of which must now be road mapped by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) in 2022 and officially put in place by 2024.

The text of the signed bill specifically calls for the banning of small off-road engines (SORE), calling out emergency response equipment and generators as well as both residential and commercial lawn equipment.

However, the SORE category expands past the named items. CARB officially defines SOREs as off-road spark-ignition engines that produce 25 horsepower or less. Other equipment examples given by the board include industrial, logging, golf carts, and specialty vehicles. It's not yet clear how this will affect small off-road recreational and sport vehicles like ATVs and dirt bikes, though most exceed that 25-hp threshold.

“Small gas engines are not only bad for our environment and contributing to our climate crisis, they can cause asthma and other health issues for workers who use them,” said Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, a co-sponsor of the bill. “It’s time we phased out these super polluters, and help small landscaping businesses transition to cleaner alternatives.”

There are currently 16.7 million small engines in California, according to a fact sheet supplied by CARB. That's significantly more than the state's fleet of 13.7 million passenger vehicles. Approximately 77 percent is made up of residential lawn and garden equipment, while federally regulated construction and farming machinery make up 11 percent. The remaining 9 percent is attributed to commercial lawn and garden, which may be hit hardest by this legislation.

These fleets of small engines are responsible for a substantial amount of the state's emissions. In fact, CARB says that running a leaf blower for an hour is equivalent to driving a 2017 Toyota Camry for 1,100 miles.

Marc Berman, author of the legislation, recognizes that the transition to battery-powered equipment will be a hardship for some small businesses. He says that California will pledge approximately $30 million to aid commercial businesses, but given that there are around 50,000 outfits in the state that'll be affected by the change, that works out to around $600 each.

According to financial figures supplied to the Los Angeles Times by Andrew Bray, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Landscape Professionals, that simply isn't enough. A gasoline-powered commercial riding mower could cost a business anywhere from $7,000 to $11,000, while the zero-emissions equivalents often cost more than twice that.

Equipment cost aside, there are also logistical concerns. For example, Bray believes that a three-person crew would need to carry as many as 40 fully-charged batteries to complete a full day's work. Additionally, these small companies may even need to upgrade their workshops to handle the daily charging of this equipment.

Legislators have their concerns as well. Given California's history of brownouts and power grid problems, some lawmakers like Senator Brian Dahle say that banning critical fuel-based power backup mechanisms like generators makes no sense.

"[Fuel] is very sustainable. It’s easy to access. And when the power is off, you can still use it," said Dahle. "You can still run a generator to keep your freezer going, to keep your medical devices going. But when your battery’s dead and there’s no power on, you have nothing.”

California will require that the ARB determine the regulations which will govern small engines no later than July 1, 2022. The adopted regulations will be put in place 18 months later on Jan. 1, 2024.


TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy; Outdoors
KEYWORDS: california; carb; globalwarming
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To: fwdude

“Electric motors provide a fraction of the power of combustion engines. You cannot convince me otherwise. I’ve used electric lawn mowers and blowers. They don’t come close to gas-powered.”

Was that is 1985? My battery powered 20 inch chainsaw blows away my gas powered 18” Stihl in torque and power. I get an hour out of each battery pack. I’m usually worn out physically by then anyhow

The battery powered leaf blowers create more wind force than exact the same gas powered blowers.

Look at all the you tube videos comparing electric versus gas. Electric wins every time.


81 posted on 10/15/2021 8:56:27 AM PDT by setter
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To: AFreeBird

See my post #81. I am still not sure why clonservatives are so anti electric. Like the attitude of horse carriage shop owners, saddle makers and blacksmith right as autos were coming out.


82 posted on 10/15/2021 9:00:31 AM PDT by setter
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To: Yo-Yo

The insanity is based on a fundamental lie that global temp changes are anthropomorphic in origin. The globalist oligarchy tried first calling this scam ‘anthropocentric global warming’. When that lie was exposed ‘they’ resorted to the typical demon rat approach of renaming as if something positive. These devils want to reduce population to what ‘they’ believe is ‘sustainable’, and that means they want most of US dead and out of their way.


83 posted on 10/15/2021 9:00:36 AM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: zeestephen
Newsom got 200,000 more votes in his Recall election than he got in 2018, when he ran for Governor.

They never cheat. CNN told me so.
84 posted on 10/15/2021 9:01:36 AM PDT by Antoninus (Republicans are all honorable men.)
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To: Yo-Yo

Crazy how people are just willing to sit back and let their communist leaders do anything to them.

Does anyone have any idea how many small engines need to run to equal just one of those forest fires? Lets just say that the emissions from every small engine ever run probably does not even come close.

This is actually about teaching people to live under communism.


85 posted on 10/15/2021 9:02:01 AM PDT by Revel
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To: cymbeline

These are dead soul demon rats. Lying is like breathing to them, its automatic.


86 posted on 10/15/2021 9:05:04 AM PDT by MHGinTN (A dispensation perspective is a powerful tool for discernment)
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To: FreedomPoster

“You’d have a hard time convincing me this stuff is a major contributor to air pollution.”

See my post #74


87 posted on 10/15/2021 9:07:05 AM PDT by setter
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To: Yo-Yo

The enviro wacko’s fail to deal with the pollution problems making said batteries and ultimately discarding them makes.


88 posted on 10/15/2021 9:07:30 AM PDT by Joe Boucher (Dementia Joe and the WhoreStacey, leaders of the Free world. ( F-you dementia Joe.))
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To: gundog; I-ambush

One of the reason I put solar panels onto my roof, producing around 2/3rds of the power I consume, is to give me a little security in case policies like this creep into Alabama.


89 posted on 10/15/2021 9:08:27 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: Tell It Right

I think it’s now required by law in Oregon that new houses include solar.


90 posted on 10/15/2021 9:11:25 AM PDT by gundog (It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen. )
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To: cymbeline
I have trouble believing that a leaf blower running for an hour using maybe a pint of fuel, pollutes more than a Camry over 1100 miles which, at 35 miles per gallon, would burn 31 gallons of fuel.

I am glad to see someone realize the truth. CARB has made up some kind of strange test to define what pollutants are "equivalent". In terms of overall contributions to emitted gases the Camry emits much more than the leaf blower.

According to Stihl, commercial leaf blowers typically use about 50 ounces of gas per hour, or about 0.4 gallons. A 2017 Camry getting its EPA rated highway mileage of 33 mpg uses 33 gallons to go 1,100 miles. So the car is burning 82.5 times as much gasoline.

Basic chemistry teaches us that whatever mass got used in the combustion in the car's engine left the car. So the total amount of gasoline used by the Toyota ended up in the atmosphere as some kind of gas that came out the tailpipe. The same thing is true for the leaf blower once its 2 stroke engine gets a good coating of oil inside of it.

The Toyota generates 82.5 times as much output gases. Cars are carefully designed to ensure that the mix of gases produced is as harmless as possible, but the Toyota is going to make a lot of CO2 since that is the combustion gas it is optimized for.

But isn't CO2 the very gas that is of great concern for climate change activists like Gov. Newsome?

91 posted on 10/15/2021 9:12:24 AM PDT by freeandfreezing
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To: Lurkinanloomin

‘It means there will be a new smuggling cartel, for lawn mowers, leaf blowers, etc.’

I see a great market for the new AOC walk behind machine; with all the hot air and the prominent teeth you can blow leaves and de-thatch your lawn at the same time...


92 posted on 10/15/2021 9:15:02 AM PDT by IrishBrigade
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To: gundog
"I think it’s now required by law in Oregon that new houses include solar."

That's ridiculous. Solar on rooftop is good only in certain scenarios. Like metal roof (no need to remove panels every 10 years to replace shingled roof), in the south (lots of sunshine, and most of our power consumption is during the summer when we have even more sunshine), no shade over the roof, and part of the roof facing south to catch more solar during the winter when the sun is at a relatively low angle. I meet all of those parameters, but how many other people do? Especially in Oregon?

93 posted on 10/15/2021 9:15:45 AM PDT by Tell It Right (1st Thessalonians 5:21 -- Put everything to the test, hold fast to that which is true.)
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To: setter
My battery powered 20 inch chainsaw blows away my gas powered 18” Stihl in torque and power.

If that is true you 18" Stihl isn't running properly. Their gas powered saws have significantly higher horsepower than any battery powered saw I have seen available for sale.

That said, the convenience of an electric chainsaw is hard to beat and they are a handy tool to have.

94 posted on 10/15/2021 9:24:47 AM PDT by freeandfreezing
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To: cableguymn

As a kid mowing with the electric mower hitting the cord was kind of the point.
= = =

This attitude is from a person called “cableguy”?


95 posted on 10/15/2021 9:32:09 AM PDT by Scrambler Bob (My /s is more true than your /science (or you might mean /seance))
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To: freeandfreezing

“The Toyota generates 82.5 times as much output gases.”

I like how you got to that conclusion.


96 posted on 10/15/2021 9:34:31 AM PDT by cymbeline
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To: setter
The hydrocarbon emissions from a half-hour of yard work with the two-stroke leaf blower

Notice the carefully chosen definition. Hydrocarbon emissions from cars and trucks are very low since they use various active techniques to recycle evaporation from fuel tanks, and don't use 2-stroke style oil/gas mixes. But that is just one aspect of the emissions of the truck.

In New England, the use of solvents in painting, cleaning, etc. account for more hydrocarbon emissions than vehicles do. So cars and trucks are very good at not letting their fuel evaporate. But those people painting, or cleaning parts, or whatever with solvent make as much hydrocarbon emissions as all of the off road engines. Source

Don't be fooled by trick comparisons. Would anyone be as concerned if the article said "Lawn mowers and every other engine running off the road contribute about as much hydrocarbon pollution as painters and people using solvents to clean parts." Of course not.

By the way, did you know that dental X-Ray machines generated millions of times more dangerous radiation than Ford Trucks?

97 posted on 10/15/2021 9:35:49 AM PDT by freeandfreezing (Do I need the sarcasm tag for that last sentence?)
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To: Yo-Yo

More brown outs, more blackouts.

Bringing back the 19th century. I guess time travel is real…


98 posted on 10/15/2021 9:40:53 AM PDT by Scott from the Left Coast (Make Orwell Fiction Again)
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To: cornfedcowboy

LOL or maybe wind powered? I want wind powered. Make it so Newsom


99 posted on 10/15/2021 9:42:14 AM PDT by Karliner (Heb 4:12 Rom 8:28 Rev 3, "...This is the end of the beginning." Churchill)
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To: Yo-Yo; centurion316

I think you are at least very short sighted if not just wrong about this being a mere inconvenience. Small engines power my maintenance activities. Replacing them with battery powered stuff is a major proposition of less power. What would an 8 hp tiller or 17 hp lawn mower that can run for 4 hours look like? Answer, a tank, a very expensive tank.

For city dwellers this is of no consequence. It is all so easy for them to think only of their conditions and they don’t even care to see beyond the pavement that surrounds them.

Centurion: We are not supposed to have our large places needing a large mower or anything else according to these dreamers. Practically speaking, I sometimes think it would be a good idea to let it grow up around our ears but it does look nice when the work is done.


100 posted on 10/15/2021 9:42:30 AM PDT by Sequoyah101 (Politicians are only marginally good at one thing, being politicians. Otherwise they are fools.I ha)
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