I'm thinking of switching lawn mowers
Hutch
6 Comments
I've been doing some research on the pollution of gas-powered lawn mowers. I was kinda shocked at how bad they really are. Take a quick jog over to here and check out the specifics, suffice it to say, it's bad. But do I want to mow my yard with an electric one or a man-powered one? One produces very little emissions, the other very little. But my yard is kinda crazy. I'm not in a huge hurry to make my muscles cry, aka sweat, to save the planet, but I haven't decided yet. Any thoughts?
Reader Comments (6)
I used to have an electric mower -- it was great. Push-button start, easy to push around the yard. Just make sure you get a LONG cord!
A few weeks ago, I looked into getting a manual mower and decided that --for my lawn-- it wasn't a good idea. Effort-wise, there's not much difference between pushing a gas mower and a reel mower, and if you keep your schedule tight enough to keep the grass short, clippings aren't really a problem, either. Costs are certainly lower. But I read a lot of user reviews that said that even small twigs could gum the reel up enough to have to stop and pick them out, significantly increasing the mow time. Since there are almost as many twigs in my yard as blades of grass, that pretty much kept me in the warm embrace of my particulate-spewing gas hog.
I think the twigs in my yard tip the scale compared to the grass too. Wow, I didn't know about that. Maybe I'll save the planet by just using my current mower until it dies.
The owner of the building I work in purchased a newton mower but it has sat in the building ever since.
I'll let you know when they actually get around to using it.
I used an electric mower at my grandparents house. Despite the massive overgrowth in the yard it was easy to use and did a great job. I actually think it may have been easier than a gas mower because starting and stopping to clear things out the way was quicker. It was also lighter to push, assuming you are pussying out and going green I'd go the electric route. Then punch your man card. -Tom
Hey I stumbled across this article about converting your gas to an solar motor. All the advantages of an electric (easy start and stop, lightweight etc.) with no cords.
http://www.arttec.net/Solar_Mower/index.html
Tom