From trustworthy wikipedia: "A 2011 study found that the amount of NMHC pollutants emitted by a leaf blower operated for 30 minutes is comparable to the amount emitted by a Ford F-150 pickup truck driving from Texas to Alaska. The two-stroke engines used in most leaf blowers operate by mixing gasoline with oil, and a third of this mixture is not burned, but is emitted as an aerosol exhaust. These pollutants have been linked to cancer, heart disease, and asthma," cited with https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-... and https://www.wsj.com/articles/leaf-blowers-are-loud-ugly-and-...

Ah, you're right. I remember seeing these ages ago, I wonder how I forgot. There's 4-stroke lawnmowers though, how bad are they?

I've had an electric lawn mower for about 10 years now and I can tell you that it has reduced my maintenance costs. For the ICE mower, I had to take it in every spring or every other spring to get it tuned up so it would start (from memory those bills were ~$75 each tune up).

Same with the ICE snowblower that I bought back when I was young and dumb seeing all my neighbors with one, so I bought one - what a maintenance nightmare. I use snow shovels now which are way better for the environment and my health.

My neighbor has one, but I think he often uses more time working on it than with it. I've considered one, but honestly, it's just my driveway and I'm (still) relatively young so I can shovel for now.

> ICE lawn equipment

If you are going to ban one thing, why not just ban lawns ;-p

Although to support your point, “Quantification of the environmental and economic benefits of the electrification of lawn mowers on the US residential market”[1] abstract says “Gasoline-powered lawn mowers and garden equipment [in the USA are] accounting for a quarter of all non-road gasoline emissions.”.

[1] https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11367-021-01917-x

I inherited a large lawn mower which I use for the overgrown uneven driveway. I could replace the mower with a weed whacker, however that would then take many hours longer (for a chore I really hate doing and do as little as possible!) I hate the noise but it works. An equivalent electric mower would be completely unaffordable for me.

I thought the majority of PM2.5 emissions was due to two-stroke engines?

The only two-stroke device I own is a chainsaw. I wanted to get a battery powered chainsaw, but they are at least 3 times the price. I also own a mains powered electric chainsaw, but an extension cord is frustrating, and only reasonable to use within tens of metres from a house.

A good old scythe is much faster than a weed whacker for larger areas. Once you get the hang of it, it's not much slower than a lawn mower. It's good excersize too.

Completely agree. It's not even close! The scythe (when used by an experienced mower) can knock out twice the area as a weed wacker can in the same amount of time, without the noise, smell, most of the maintenance hassle, and it runs on breakfast or lunch.

Interesting. I think my parents have one I could use - I will try to remember to give it a go. However I don’t have a flat lawn: instead I have verges/edges with stones, holes, and fences, so maybe less useful for my case.

I assume you'd cut around the fences. Once you get the hang of it, a scythe is quite precise.

Stones can be difficult if they're tall enough and everywhere. Otherwise you'd just make sure to keep the blade higher than the stones.