300x Worse Than a Pickup Truck: How Traditional Landscaping Routines Destroy Sustainability Goals (And 5 Alternative Solutions)
Key Takeaways from Washington University in St. Louis - Office of Sustainability's Electric or Gas Leaf Blowers...Neither? Reading
If your real estate company is committed to going green, put a pin in the research on solar panels and electric carports … How much pollution are you creating simply by maintaining your landscape?
Leaf-blowers and gas mowers are a common sight on commercial and residential property, but they could be doing more environmental harm than a pickup truck. Gas-powered lawn equipment is incredibly bad for the environment. One study found that a leaf blower emitted 300 times more pollutants than a 6,200-pound truck. Another study found that running a gas mower for one hour was the carbon-footprint equivalent of driving a car 100 miles.
These small appliances often use two-stroke engines, which are particularly bad. With no independent lubrication, engineers must design these engines to add lubricating oil to the fuel mixture. Burning it creates all kinds of harmful emissions, including carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, and carcinogenic hydrocarbons (i.e. smog). Nitrous oxide is particularly bad because it mixes with sunlight and volatile organic compounds (VOC) to create ozone, which exacerbates respiratory problems for people exposed to it. It’s called “ozone fermentation,” and it’s especially terrible for people with asthma.
So how can we, as conscientious real estate managers and investors, clean up our lawn-care act … without breaking the bank?
5 Eco-Friendly Alternatives to Gas Leaf Blowers and Lawnmowers
1. Go Unpowered
For smaller lawns, a mechanical mower may be a practical solution. Rakes to clear the leaves and push-brooms to clear walkways and driveways will cover the leaves. This equipment is inexpensive, long-lasting, easy to use, easy to service, and — best of all — creates no carbon footprint whatsoever.
2. Change the Schedule
Believe it or not, you can have a significant impact on your lawn care ecological footprint without changing equipment — just change the schedule. It takes sunlight to react with engine emissions to create ozone … which means you will create less of it if you mow and blow and less-sunny times of the day. The best times to run an engine for minimal ozone fermentation are before 10 am and after 7 pm. Change your landscaping hours to align with those timeframes, and your eco-footprint is already headed in the right direction.
3. Leave the Leaves
What if, instead of getting all-new leaf removal equipment, you just left them? Fallen leaves are great for the environment. They are basically free mulch. Grasses thrive under a thin layer of mulched leaves. Fallen leaves also act as a habitat for insects, including vital pollinators. Just use a broom to get the leaves out of the walkways; maybe run a non-motorized push-mower over them to crunch them up a little. Alternatively, gather them up and use them as compost. Treat them like the asset they are, and above all don’t pump poison into the atmosphere by blowing them next door. What a waste.
4. Go Propane
If your landscaping area is large enough, “analog” methods may not be practical. If you need motorized help, however, you may have better options than dirty oil and gasoline. Look for a mower or a blower that runs on propane natural gas, a much cleaner fuel. Offset the expense by investing in quality, so your equipment will last a long time and pay for itself.
5. Go Electric
Look for lawn-care equipment with rechargeable electric batteries. These are more expensive, so make sure you buy quality equipment that is built to last. Electric engines don’t eliminate your carbon footprint completely. The electricity that charges your battery when you plug it in had to be created by burning fuel at a power plant. But power plants use huge filters to scrub the exhaust and reduce the number of pollutants they emit. Going electric is usually a net positive in terms of carbon footprint.
In obsessing over the economic impact of real estate, it’s easy to forget about the environmental impact. But with a little ingenuity and forward-thinking, there’s no reason you can’t do both. Money is green too, after all! By reducing or eliminating the emissions created by lawnmowers and leaf blowers, property owners and managers can make a big impact on the pollution footprint of entire communities.
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