What's In Your Shed: The Surprising Truth About Gas Mowers - They're Worse Than Your Car

It's spring! Which means every weekend, and sometimes on weekdays, we hear the sounds of lawn mowers, weed trimmers, leaf blowers and other yard tools. On top of hearing them... we also smell them.

Oh, I'm not talking about the smell of fresh mown grass which is actually quite pleasant, unless you have allergies, in which case, it might make you a bit twitchy.

No, I'm talking about the smell of gasoline exhaust. Even though we live in a semi-urban area with moderate sized properties (8000 sq ft), an appalling number of people still have gasoline powered lawn mowers. Not only are they stinky, they are also really noisy... and as I listen to the neighbour trying to get theirs working after its winter hiatus... I wonder... why? And what cost?

We sit in the middle of three houses that run the gamut of lawn mowing equipment. From battery to electric to gasoline-powered.

Battery Lawnmower

Downslope from us is Lindy who uses a battery operated lawn mower. State of the art and super quiet. She just plugs it in to a wall outlet to charge. There are no cords, no fuss, no muss. There's also not a lot of oomph. Lindy laments that she can only do about 30 minutes at a time before the battery loses power and she needs to plug it in again. That's usually enough time for her to finish the front lawn, but not the back lawn. That's the thing with battery-powered tools, they often lack oomph and their battery drains leaving you with an anemic lawnmower that can barely do anything.

Corded Electric Lawnmower

We, on the other hand, have an electric lawn mower, a Black & Decker, I think. We got it second-hand for $40 and it's been great. It has a height adjustment lever... one lever raises and lowers all 4 wheels. Nice! It has decent power although if the grass is long and shaggy, I have to raise the mower or risk it choking. You have to coddle electric mowers a bit... they don't have as much oomph as a gas-powered mower. And if you're not paying attention and try to plough through a long, dense patch of grass and don't listen to the mower and adjust accordingly... you will trip the breaker. We had that happen with the guy who does our house cleaning. He does yard work as well but had obviously never used an electric mower and... tried to push through and... tripped the breaker. The other thing you have to watch out for is the power cord... don't mow over that or your lawn mowing adventure will come to an abrupt end.

Gas Lawnmower

Then we have our upslope neighbours who have an old gasoline-powered lawnmower. It is old. It is super noisy. It stinks the whole neighbourhood up with the fumes. And every few times, they have to tinker with it to get it going. I had a friend who had a gas mower... her shed stank of gasoline and the wooden floor was stained with gasoline and oils spills. Yuck.

Obviously, the gas powered mower is not great for the environment... but I had no idea how bad...

Impact of Gas-Powered Lawn Equipment

The problem lies in the type of engine within these devices - two stroke and four stroke engines. Two stroke engines do not have a separate lubrication system so gasoline and oil are mixed. This means that 30% of the fuel does not combust completely, releasing toxic fumes into the air. Four-stroke engines are slightly better but not great.

For example, let's consider a two stroke scooter, which you might think is eco-friendly because it hardly uses an gas. A 2014 study of VOC (harmful gases) found that emissions were 124 times HIGHER with an idling scooter than with a car or truck.

Oh, and a four stroke gasoline powered lawnmower emits the same amount of emissions as a vehicle travelling 800 kilometres. 

A consumer grade gasoline powered leaf blower emits more hydrocarbons than a truck or sedan.

An EPA study in the USA found that gasoline powered lawnmowers produce 5% of total air pollution in the USA.

From APCD of Kentucky (Air Pollution Control District)
based on EPA data

And let's not talk about fuel spills when refilling a gas-powered lawn mower. This can release toxic compounds into the air and seep into the soil and ground water.

Oh, and then there is noise pollution. Most gas lawnmowers, particularly older models run at 95-100 decibels (db). Irreparable hearing damage can start at just 85 db with repeated or prolonged exposure. Electric mowers? They run at 75 db. You can listen to that all day and be fine. Gas powered mower or weed trimmer?

Solutions

 If you want to reduce your carbon footprint... and don't have the budget for an electric vehicle... don't worry... you can get huge bang for your buck by switching from a gas-powered lawnmower to an electric one! If you can't go big... don't go home... go small!

You could also, of course, get a reel lawnmower... one of those push mowers. A neighbour 2 houses up from us had one of those and... used it once and then it sat in the front yard and quietly rusted. I'm going to guess it was not a success. If you have a tiny patch of lawn then a push-reel mower might be the thing for you.

Take a look in your shed... can your gas-powered anything be replaced with an electric version? The electric version might cost more initially but over time... with gasoline costs going up and up... you'll make your money back. Or buy a second-hand electric mower and save even more! Or a weed trimmer... or a leaf blower... or a snow blower... or a chainsaw.

On top of that many municipalities are moving to ban gas-powered lawn equipment... so if you still have a fume-belching, gas-guzzling lawn dinosaur... it's days might be numbered...

Oh... and that cute little Italian Vespa scooter that is going to solve your commuting woes? Remember... two-stroke and four-stroke engines... put out more emissions than a car... The Italian city of Genoa, birthplace of the Vespa moved to ban the little things back in 2019... and other European cities have followed suite... mostly banning older models. But the writing is one the wall.

This is one of those times where you don't want "vintage", no matter how cool and retro it looks. Function (poor emissions quality) trumps Form (cute look).