We’ve talked a lot about eco-friendly mowers – there’s the Zool Yard Tool (so cool), the Neuton battery-powered mower (so sexy), Sunwhisper solar mower (so sunny), and Black & Decker’s electric and battery versions (so many choices). Although all of these options have low or no emissions, they don’t have quite the pep or endurance of a diesel or gasoline engine.
Onyx Environmental Solutions has a pretty innovative alternative – their Envirogard line of propane powered mowers!
According to the company:
Conventional lawn mowers pollute as much as 40 automobiles. (That’s crazy! I had no idea…) As a result, many cities have banned the use of commercial mowers before 1 p.m. on “ozone action days.”
EnviroGard’s “Low Polluting Lawn Mowers” meet all current and future emission requirements by the Environmental Protection Agency and California Air Resources Board. There is up to a 60% reduction in smog forming emissions and 80% reduction in toxic emissions compared with diesel and gasoline fuel.
Besides the huge advantages of lower emissions, propane is on average 30% less expensive than gasoline or diesel fuels. The savings are increased with no spillage, theft, or contamination concerns that occur with other fuels. This is real savings in your pocket!.
There are six models in the Envirogard line of propane mowers.
If you’re not in the market for a new mower, but interested in overhauling your existing one, they also have conversion kits that will change your gasoline engine to a propane one. This is probably more applicable to commercial mowers, but that doesn’t mean you can’t encourage your lawn care service or landscaper to look into it.
In general it seems like Envirogard mowers are more targeted to commercial users (or people with large areas to mow), but they are definitely a better alternative to gas and diesel. Hopefully we’ll see more of these used by cities and larger lawn care companies.
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at 1:53 pm
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at 9:31 am
You might be right, msimmon. However, another consideration is the type of emissions. Diesel engines produce particulates and contribute to smog. I’m not sure where I stand, but I do think both diesel and propane are better alternatives than gasoline.
Thanks for your comment!
By: GreenerGreenGrass on July 6, 2010
at 10:14 am
I would think that a more fuel-efficient, ULS diesel engine (that they used to be) would reduce fuel consumption and emissions, and with less fuel used, that would lead to even lower emissions.
And when you consider power transfer and energy efficiency, diesel is more powerful than propane, which means less time on job sites for those commercial operators.
So diesel uses less fuel, has more power which leads to even less fuel, which means even lower emissions.
But propane uses more fuel to do the same jobs, which means more emissions at the end of the day.
To me, it doesn’t seem like propane is a better alternative…
By: msimmon on July 6, 2010
at 9:46 am
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at 2:57 pm