Residents Urged to Switch On Electric Mowers
Hoping county residents will cut smog and their lawns at the same time, officials are introducing a program that makes it easier for consumers to purchase electric lawn mowers.
Over the next month, 700 county residents can earn up to $150 in credits toward the purchase of an electric lawn mower under a program sponsored by the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District. Electric lawn mowers cost more than gasoline-powered models but produce no emissions.
Dubbed Project Clean Cut, the program is part of a wider effort in California to reduce smog. It was launched Wednesday at Parkview School in Port Hueneme to teach the elementary schoolchildren about the dangers of dirty air and show them the latest pollution solution.
“It’s something that’s never been done before, trying to get electric lawn mowers in the marketplace,” said Dick Baldwin, executive officer for the local air quality district. “Since Ventura County has some of the worst smog in the country, we’re trying to get this going.”
With that, Baldwin flipped a switch on a battery-powered red Toro mower-mulcher (no rip-cord starters required) and the machine hummed into action. No fumes, no roaring engines, just a gentle whirring sound, much like a big hair dryer. Adults took turns cutting the school yard with the electric mower while children tore up the turf with brightly colored bubble mowers.
“You don’t use gas, you use electricity?” asked fourth-grader Zachary Gertz from beneath his baseball cap. “Yup,” Baldwin said.
“Will a lawn mower stop us from polluting the air?” asked student Joseph Herring. Yup again, nodded Baldwin.
About 65,000 lawn mowers are deployed against unruly grass in Ventura County, air quality officials said. The two-stroke engines are so inefficient that just one lawn mower operated for one hour produces as much smog as a new car driven 790 miles, air quality officials said. Replacing 700 lawn mowers will eliminate one ton of smog-forming fumes annually, according to the air district.
The first 700 county residents who turn their gasoline-powered mowers in at participating metal-recycling centers between Friday and March 18 will receive a $100 voucher toward the purchase of an electric mower. The cities of Camarillo, Ojai, Oxnard, Port Hueneme, Santa Paula and Thousand Oaks will ante up an additional $50 for their residents. For a list of participating recycling centers, call 645-1482.
The vouchers can be redeemed toward a mower at the Ventura County Home and Garden Show, scheduled March 19-21 at Seaside Park on the Ventura County Fairgrounds.
Without the subsidy, air quality officials doubt consumers would buy many electric mowers. The retail cost of electric mowers is about $400, though for Project Clean Cut they are being offered at $329, not counting the discount vouchers, said John Richey, salesman at Green Thumb International in Ventura.
Funding totaling $95,000 for the program comes from the air quality district, California Air Resources Board, Houston Industries, Southern California Edison Co. and the Ventura County Regional Sanitation District.
The electric mowers perform fine for most residential yards, but they sometimes bog down in thick grass and they run only about one hour before requiring a recharge. “It doesn’t have the same power as a gas motor,” Richey said.
Nonetheless, the elementary school students were wowed. Air-quality officials hope they go home and encourage their parents to swap their gasoline mowers for the electric ones.
“It’s pretty cool that it runs off a battery and doesn’t make air pollution,” said Emerald Mayo, a fifth-grader. “It’s just a little step, but it’s a big step. If we keep doing this stuff, the world will get better.”
