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

theatlantic.com

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

#141

Post by bane »

adamswann wrote: post #22

The ban is on gas -powered leaf blowers. I’ve switched to all electric yard tools at home. No regrets; the tools are durable, can easily handle the whole job on a single charge, quiet enough that I feel comfortable letting my children assist (they can hear my instructions and generally what’s going on around them), and no gas engines to maintain.

I recently purchased an electric mower after my old gas powered one died -- repairing it was going to cost as much as just buying a new one.

It's so good. It has turned a dreadful experience into a long slightly noisy walk in my yard.

I used to have a number of minor breathing problems when mowing my lawn, mostly due to the exhaust. No longer having to deal with smelly, burning chemicals is absolutely awesome. I ended replacing almost all of my other yard tools with an electric equivalent as soon as I could.

This is a major change since I last tried electric (and especially battery powered) yard tools, which were flimsy, low powered and died quickly. The modern ones are quite good for most things and since I'm more inclined to use them, I end up dealing with easier to mow/chop/trim yard stuff than before.

Upon reflection, using the gas powered equipment today feels like barbarism.

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

#142

Post by btbuildem »

When I lived in Seattle, it blew my mind that your society had second-class citizens driving around, cutting lawns and blowing leaves. It seemed so absurd to me, but sense to a lot of people, and was legit a mainstream thing.

Noise pollution in cities is an insidious problem. I'm happy to see that DC managed to reduce it somewhat. Although, 3 more years to wait is a bit of a kicker.

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

#143

Post by smileypete »

Pfhreak wrote: post #133
smileypete wrote: post #130

Decent 4 stroke ones are pretty clean and quiet IME, maybe just ban the 2 stroke cheapos.

Why burn gas to push leaves around at all though?

The same reason most people are sticking with their gas powered cars for now, I guess.

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

#144

Post by reitzensteinm »

freeone3000 wrote: post #100
jhoechtl wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

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.

"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.

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

#145

Post by huntie »

Has anyone here done commercial lawncare? I mowed cemeteries and churches for 5 years. Electric tools might work for a tiny suburban plot but try doing even a single cemetery with them. We only used leaf blowers at the cemeteries a few times a year (Memorial day, etc.) but there is no way an electric blower would last long enough.

D.C. has Arlington Cemetery too, so I'm not sure what they'll do. Maybe they have an exception.

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

#147

Post by CamperBob2 »

jhoechtl wrote: post #98
nraynaud wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

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?

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.

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

#148

Post by s1mon »

perilunar wrote: post #113
rootusrootus wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real issue IMO is that the battery powered yard tools are infected by the same planned obsolescence as existing power tools. Most gas-powered yard tools last damn near forever even if you don't do maintenance on them. The battery powered ones are good for three years and then you're buying a new one. If you're lucky they still make the battery, but it costs as much a whole new tool. Wish we could standardize mode…

Many rechargeable battery packs are just assemblies of 18650 or similar cylindrical cells — if they just made the packs openable then it would be easy to replace and recycle the cells.

If only an "18650" was always the same! Despite the name, they're never exactly 18.0mm diameter by 65mm long. Some have protection circuits built in, some don't. Some have solder tabs, some have wired connections (2-pin or 3) and some fit into holders the way your garden variety AA battery does. Then there are a variety of capacities and charge curves. 18650 Li-Ion is not a standard the way that a AA alkaline is. The core can may be "standard" but by the time that gets packaged into a cell in a product, there are an infinite variety of options.

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

#149

Post by dang »

loudtieblahblah wrote: post #111
larrywright wrote: post #56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we could band together and get motorcyles banned I would be ecstatic. Loud mufflers of any kind, really.

You are as petty as you are fascist.

Personal attacks will get you banned here. Please review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and post civilly and substantively, or not at all.

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

#150

Post by cerebellum42 »

05 wrote: post #124
perilunar wrote: post #113

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many rechargeable battery packs are just assemblies of 18650 or similar cylindrical cells — if they just made the packs openable then it would be easy to replace and recycle the cells.

The cells are welded together with contact strips, you need a spot welder to rebuild a pack. Making cells removable isn’t economic, because vibration resistant electrical connections are not cheap.

While I agree that it's reasonable to make 18650 based packs not officially user serviceable (because of the spot welding thing and because that would open up liability to repairs gone wrong), at least they should be made so the cells can be replaced by someone who has a spotwelder and some electrical knowledge. Basically give the pack housing a nondestructive way to be opened and resealed.

That way even if the manufacturer decides to switch battery pack standards in a few years, someone with the necessary knowledge can still get some 18650 cells and be fine.

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