How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowers banned in D.C.

Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by cjensen on Sunday March 10, 2019 @03:06PM (#19353695)

Sure. But the issue is professional gardeners -- including those who just have a pickup truck and and a few dozen clients. It's not just "handle a job on a full charge" since they need to work all day. The Stihl backpack batteries help a lot, but it's still going to be a lot of investment for a guy who just takes care of lawns for a living.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by sfopdxnonstop on Sunday March 10, 2019 @04:08PM (#19354109)

Yeah it totally sucks when you were accustomed to externalizing your business costs onto others but now you have to pass those costs on to your customers. I mean sucks for the customers, not for you (you earn the same) or for the people no longer paying those costs (with their hearing loss).

Me? I don't employ anyone to blow my leaves so I'm a winner in this transaction.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by andrei_says_ on Sunday March 10, 2019 @04:52PM (#19354415)

Well this is pretty much the model of most industries, and especially with energy, the oil gas and coal industries.

As for one person’s choice, I wish all my neighbors would make the same choice.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by AnthonyMouse on Sunday March 10, 2019 @04:57PM (#19354452)

All you need is to have a battery that takes less time to charge than discharge during normal usage. Then you have one charging from the truck or local mains power while you're using the other and whenever it runs down the other is charged and you can swap them.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by nraynaud on Sunday March 10, 2019 @04:20PM (#19354168)

don't big truck have a power outlet from the engine? I think welders are plugged into the engine.

I'd share some concern about transition, in particular because I live in Arizona, but I guess things will be better in the long run.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by jhoechtl on Sunday March 10, 2019 @05:25PM (#19354621)

And now guess how the trucks are powered? Now you use a cobustion engine to power an alternator to charge a battery. What is the net gain, if any?

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by freeone3000 on Sunday March 10, 2019 @05:28PM (#19354651)

It's a more efficient engine, with better particulate filters, a catalytic converter to reduce NOx emissions, and yearly emissions inspections to ensure all of the above is up to standards. It's a gain.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by reitzensteinm on Sunday March 10, 2019 @07:48PM (#19355545)

"More efficient" is not a binary thing. Taking an efficient engine that's capable of throwing two tons of steel down a highway at 100 mph and using it to charge a lithium ion battery is like killing an ant with a sledgehammer.

An F150 consumes ~2 litres of fuel an hour at idle and provides 400 watts of power through its outlet. A Bosch leaf blower is 2400 watt. Petrol powered leaf blowers do not use 12 liters of fuel an hour.

Sure, the emissions in some ways will be lower, but it's not an unambiguous gain and it's not anything close to an environmentally friendly way to run a leaf blower.

This is clearly a niche for PHEVs or BEVs.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by djpilot on Monday March 11, 2019 @03:46AM (#19357326)

> An F150 consumes ~2 litres of fuel an hour at idle

Where'd you get this number? AFAICT this is not true.

https://www.google.com/search?q=how+much+gas+per+hour+idling...

More like a little less than 1 liter for a 4.6L V8 motor.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by reitzensteinm on Monday March 11, 2019 @05:37AM (#19357708)

Your link says 0.5-0.7 gallons for the 4.6L V8, which is 1.9-2.6 liters.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by liability on Monday March 11, 2019 @10:43PM (#19364899)

Ford is promising to produce a hybrid F150 that would upend your green calculus entirely.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by reitzensteinm on Monday March 11, 2019 @10:54PM (#19364949)

> This is clearly a niche for PHEVs or BEVs.

(And yes it would, and that's great!)

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by liability on Sunday March 10, 2019 @05:39PM (#19354726)

Trucks don't use shitty two-stroke engines.

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by nraynaud on Sunday March 10, 2019 @05:30PM (#19354666)

yes, less noise, and less pollution (by the economy of scale).

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Re:How a small group of activists got gas-powered leaf blowe... by CamperBob2 on Sunday March 10, 2019 @08:12PM (#19355662)

Same reason why EVs are a net win even if they are ultimately powered by coal.

My impression is that pollution scales roughly linearly with the size of a power plant, while power output scales exponentially.

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