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A Cut Above How to keep your grass green and your wallet fat  Image courtesy istockphoto Electric lawnmowers are making the cut in America for their ability to reduce smog, noise pollution and - with the price of gas skyrocketing - the dent in your pocketbook. "Electric mowers have made a huge comeback just this year," says Lars Hundley, owner of Dallas-based Clean Air Gardening. When he started his environmentally friendly lawn-and-garden supply store a decade ago, poor battery technology and high prices kept the sales of electric mowers down. "But starting in 2008, there have been a number of new electric lawnmower introductions, like the new Remington and the Earthwise," Hundley says. "I think they are very comparable to gasoline mowers in terms of power and ability. But they don't have the noise and air pollution issues of a gas-powered mower." Gas-guzzling mowers are so polluting that some local air quality districts have even offered rebates allowing people to turn in their old gas mower for a new, leaner lawnmower at a slashed price. "It's really amazing how much these older engines pollute," says Sam Atwood, spokesman for the South Coast Air Quality Management District, which monitors and combats air pollution around the Los Angeles area. "Just one of these older two-stroke gas mowers can pollute over the course of the year as much as 43 new cars each driven 12,000 miles." For the past six years, AQMD has collected more than 24,000 gas-powered mowers and - for as little as $100 - exchanged them with electric lawnmowers, which will eliminate 116 tons of smog-forming compounds over several years. For most of the exchange program, AQMD has chosen the Neuton cordless electric mower, which is equal in power to a 3.5-horsepower gas mower, has a 14-inch blade width and can operate for up to an hour on a 12-hour charge. It also produces half the noise of a gas mower and only weighs about 48 pounds. "It's extremely easy to use," Atwood says. "Just push in an electrical safety key, pull a lever and go. We have found very good customer satisfaction with the product. Another nice thing about the Neuton is that you can open a plastic cover on top of the mower, pull out the battery and charge it overnight." The biggest selling electric motor at Clean Air Gardening also happens to be Hundley's personal favorite: the Remington 60-volt cordless electric mower. Like other electric mowers, it is user-friendly, pollution-free and easy on the ears. "What makes it unique is that it is a cordless mower, but you can also plug in an extension cord and use it as a corded mower," Hundley says. "When you use it with the cord, you get extra power." The Remington mower also works as a bagger, a side discharge mower, and as a mulching mower, Hundley says. It costs about 10 cents in electricity to charge the battery, meaning that the cost of running the mower all summer is about the same cost as one gallon of gasoline. Electric mowers may not be ideal for every home, however. On cordless models, Hundley says that the battery may not last long enough to mow a severely overgrown lawn or one that is 3/4 of an acre or larger. The cost, too, can be prohibitive to some: both the Neuton and the Remington cordless mowers run about $399, although the 18-inch corded Earthwise electric mower runs only about $159 and up. But the cost of running an electric mower may drop even lower in the future. "When I was at the National Hardware Show in Las Vegas, I saw a manufacturer there that was going to introduce a cordless electric mower that came with an optional solar panel charger that you could mount on your garage," Hundley recalls. "So you could literally charge it for free!" |
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