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California’s latest pollution push: Banning gas-powered mowers and blowers
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | January 6, 2020 | Mallory Moench

Posted on 01/10/2020 5:05:04 AM PST by karpov

The next frontier in California’s battle against pollution: lawn equipment.

State air regulators are laying long-term plans to phase out gasoline-powered devices like leaf blowers and lawn mowers, saying they can produce more noxious emissions than cars.

Plenty of Bay Area cities are already acting: At least eight have banned gas-powered blowers, and more restrict their use during times of day or up to a certain noise level. Novato may soon join the list.

“What I think we need to realize is that we have to do something different for climate change in the world,” said Novato Mayor Pro Tem Pat Eklund, who proposed a ban on gas lawn mowers and leaf blowers in December. “If not, we are going to see a different world than we do today. Every little bit is going to help.”

Such restrictions force people to use cleaner, quieter electric machinery instead. But they are not universally popular.

Jose Vaca, who owns Vaca Construction and Landscaping, which has locations in Novato and Petaluma, said he would have to buy up to five batteries — costing an average of $100 to $200 each — to finish jobs on large properties like homeowner associations or shopping centers. Electric leaf blowers would make tasks longer and more expensive, he said.

Vaca said he has already ended contracts in Mill Valley because of the city’s ban on gas-powered leaf blowers. If Novato implements a similar restriction, he’ll do the same.

“We would just start canceling more contracts and moving up north,” he said.

While cars produce more carbon dioxide, small engines can emit more of other problematic gases.

(Excerpt) Read more at sfchronicle.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; US: California
KEYWORDS: again; carb; co2
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Leave the leaves and grass clippings in place...or better yet don’t mow the grass...become a greener sob....I can’t picture an electric Stihl cutting a dead 30” oak for firewood....my 1000s of secsds (solar energy collection storage devices...ie trees) are coaxed to release that stored solar energy with my gas powered Stihls....my leaf blower is used for blowing leaves and straw from the dog house off my porch...my compact edc assault chainsaw is an arborist Echo...ahhh the sounds of suburbia in the am...here it is crows, woodpeckers, roosters crowing, cows, dogs barking, and my Stihls in the fall and winter....and sporadic gunfire for hunting or practice...life is good...


61 posted on 01/10/2020 7:23:59 AM PST by TnTnTn
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

as i’ve stated previously...

demonrats refuse to understand anything...
there’s no reasoning with people who believe a man’s anus is a vagina...


62 posted on 01/10/2020 7:24:58 AM PST by heavy metal (your reward will be in heaven not on your paycheck...)
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To: karpov

Oil makes the economy hum. There may come a time when we can produce enough electricity to do without it but that time is still decades in the future. We should always use oil as a backup. As far as small gas engines are concerned, they produce a lot more power than electric ones IMO.


63 posted on 01/10/2020 8:03:10 AM PST by Crucial
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To: chris37

How many companies that manufacture or distribute those items are there in California?

What percentage of business at Lowe’s/Home Depot/Ace Hardware, etc, is from those items?

How many people will lose their jobs because those manufacturer’s leave California?


64 posted on 01/10/2020 8:07:36 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: ridesthemiles

Apparently none of that matters or is even a consideration to the idiot lunatics of California.


65 posted on 01/10/2020 8:11:00 AM PST by chris37 (Where's Hunter?)
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To: karpov

Next, they will ban chain saws, and then blow up when P G & E & all the other power companies in California cannot trim the trees near the power lines.

I cleaned up 5 acres of property in N Calif with my Stihl chain saw-—and completely USED UP 7 chains in the process. They are now trophies for my wall. It took me 2 1/2 YEARS and I worked every day except when it rained or snowed too much to be safe out there.


66 posted on 01/10/2020 8:14:41 AM PST by ridesthemiles
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To: VanDeKoik

They will have stacks of batteries and a generator on their truck to charge in between jobs.


67 posted on 01/10/2020 8:22:34 AM PST by US_MilitaryRules (I'm not tired of Winning yet! Please, continue on!)
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To: pepsionice
Will be interesting how city parks departments are going to operate, and the cost factor for them over the next decade.

Wouldn't be surprised at all to see exemptions for governments.

68 posted on 01/10/2020 8:42:06 AM PST by zeugma (I sure wish I lived in a country where the rule of law actually applied to those in power.)
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To: shelterguy
I don’t always call them leaf blowers. I call them Mexican bagpipes.

hahahahahahahaha

They must be tone deaf.

69 posted on 01/10/2020 8:44:27 AM PST by zeugma (I sure wish I lived in a country where the rule of law actually applied to those in power.)
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To: FrdmLvr
What is with the Left’s approval of electricity as a means of power? I thought they hated coal?

As long as the production of electricity is out in the country, and they don't have to look at it, they don't really care how it's made. As long as they can't see the pollution, it's not happening. Try to put windmills out where it clutters up their beachfront view, and you'll see some serious opposition though.

70 posted on 01/10/2020 8:47:16 AM PST by zeugma (I sure wish I lived in a country where the rule of law actually applied to those in power.)
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To: shelterguy

Compare the duty cycle of a drill or sawsall to a leaf blower.


71 posted on 01/10/2020 9:12:24 AM PST by Yo-Yo ( is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: tomkat

The only thing I wonder is HOW LONG will this $100 battery last?
Three years, 5 years, 10 years?
Is it comparable to the life span of the Lithium Ion battery in my cordless drills?
What happens to the battery then? Are there companies that recycle these batteries?

Where do all the old smart phones go? To Africa, India or some other 3rd world SH&T H&LE country?


72 posted on 01/10/2020 9:35:59 AM PST by woodbutcher1963
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To: lewislynn

You use both. Concentrate it with a blower. Use a rake to finish up. Unless you are stupid?


73 posted on 01/10/2020 9:59:36 AM PST by Vaquero ( Don't pick a fight with an old guy. If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you.)
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To: karpov

Is Tesla coming out with a solar powered mower or something? It is going to be great watching all those electric mowers cutting their own cords on golf courses.


74 posted on 01/10/2020 10:29:09 AM PST by Freedom_Is_Not_Free (What profits a man if he gains the world but loses his soul?)
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To: chris37
And I blow my crap onto my own property, just like I said. God, you people are obnoxious
Maybe, but not "obnoxious" like a leaf blower.

Like I'm supposed to be impressed or care that you use a blower on your grade school track? WOOO!

Nor are most people so stupid as to think they blow crap "onto their own property".

75 posted on 01/10/2020 10:30:35 AM PST by lewislynn (STOP SUPPORTING CHINA AND ANTI-AMERICAN GLOBALISTS! DO IT NOW!)
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To: lewislynn

Hey,

Go shove a leaf blower up your rear end and turn it on.


76 posted on 01/10/2020 10:54:28 AM PST by chris37 (Where's Hunter?)
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To: pepsionice

Goats. Lots of goats.


77 posted on 01/10/2020 1:55:01 PM PST by Jacquerie (ArticleVBlog.com)
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To: Mr Ramsbotham

I don’t rake leaves. I let them sit on the lawn and decay over the winter, providing nutrients for the soil.

* * *

Yes, and if you don’t like unsightly appearance of leaves rotting on your lawn, you can use a recycling lawn mower (such as the Honda and Toro Personal Pace) to chew the leaves up into small pieces and let those nutrients go to work as you say.

This is what I do in my backyard that has a couple large trees. So I never have to rake and bag leaves.


78 posted on 01/11/2020 12:59:56 AM PST by poconopundit (Joe Biden has long been the Senate's court jester. He's 24/7 malarkey and more corrupt than Hunter.)
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To: chris37

I was speaking more to the commercial endeavors that are greatly annoying. All they are interested in is blowing onto the adjacent property or the street.


79 posted on 01/13/2020 11:11:38 AM PST by windowdude
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To: EEGator

How about the wetbacks who operate them? ;O


80 posted on 01/13/2020 11:14:09 AM PST by windowdude
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