[Wheatfield]

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The use of battery powered tools is now widespread in the construction industry.
This is a real opportunity for smart manufacturers to advance cleaner technology.

Chris

Milwaukee is really pushing that envelope with the MX Fuel platform. There are some things that gas will be better at for quite a while because batteries need to be charged. They are getting to the point of being able to tackle really big jobs with battery power.

I really like my 18 volt impact screw driver. Great tool.

[ZombieArmy]

The problem with these kinds of initiatives is that the manufacturing of the new electrical units and disposal of the old ones will result in far more pollution than just running the old ones. In terms of overall carbon emissions these are nothing and it's just big businesses and large farmers trying to pass the buck of environmental pollution to the consumer rather than fix it on their ends.

Reminder that the idea of an individual "carbon footprint" was pushed by the oil companies.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/aug/23/big-oil-coined-carbon-...em-on-the-hook

[robtcorl]

This thread reminded me that somewhere, in our cluttered basement, I have a manual hedge trimmer.
I picked it up as a novelty at a garage sale years ago. Using it should give you arms like Charles Atlas.
Found one on fleabay, maybe I need to start looking for mine, it's in better condition.
VINTAGE Chandler Cyclone Manual Hedge Trimmer | eBay

[luftfluss]

isn't it odd that California still hasn't banned the use of glyphosate ("Roundup"), particularly given the nearly 100% positive correlation between the use of glyphosate and the incidence of autoimmune disorders?

CA seems to be slowly moving in that direction, though:

California has led the charge in holding Monsanto accountable for Roundup’s carcinogenicity. In fact, as early as 2017 the state added glyphosate to its list of carcinogens. In March 2019, Los Angeles County issued a moratorium on Monsanto’s Roundup. The County Board of Supervisors cited a need for more research into glyphosate’s health effects. The state has a growing number of cities and counties banning or restricting glyphosate. According to Mercury News, the following agencies in California have discontinued or restricted the use of glyphosate:

• Benicia and Benicia Unified Schoool District
• Burbank and Burbank Unified School District
• Contra Costa County
• Encinitas
• Davis
• Greenfield
• Irvine
• Lodi
• Long Beach
• Los Angeles County
• Marin County
• Mount Diablo Unified School District
• Napa
• Novato
• Oakland
• Orange county
• Oxnard School District
• San Francisco (As of November 2020, the city has begun relying on Roundup much less because of cancer concerns.)
• San Lorenzo Valley Water District
• Santa Rosa
• Sonoma
• Thousand Oaks
• University of California
• Watsonville
• Woodland Joint Unified School District

This is not an exhaustive list of all the locations and agencies that have made moves to ban glyphosate use in California.

https://www.carlsonattorneys.com/news-and-update/banning-roundup

[robgski]

A politician's virtue signaling in the name of environmental consciousness never goes out of style, and if it gets likes on social media, or funds in political coffers, so much the better.
Other countries will continue to use fossil fuels, so any positive effect based on California’s latest folly will be negligible at best.

[ChrisPlatt]

Relax folks!

IIRC we did fine even before leaf blowers were introduced around 1980...



Chris

[Wheatfield]

Relax folks!

IIRC we did fine even before leaf blowers were introduced around 1980...



Chris

Probably better. At least a rake gives an upper body cardio workout.

[StiffLegged]

I remember a UK journalist posted to the Eastern US who despised his neighbours' use of leaf blowers, especially come er, fall. An Englishman uses a brush or rake and gathers the leaf litter in a wheelbarrow for composting like all civilised men. Meantime the blowers droned on until the suspicion grew that everyone was just blowing their leaves into his yard, and that just isn't cricket y'know! Finally it was plain his trees simply couldn't generate the sheer tonnage he was having to shift and his suspicion hardened to conviction, as did his resentment, until he finally cracked, bought the biggest blower he could find and blew them all back.

New England manners, eh?

[reh321]

Without taking sides in this, or considering the rights and wrongs, this claim seems a massive stretch. I'm not in the USA a, let alone California. But :
https://www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article254897052.html

What pollution are they talking about? The leaf blower would use about 1 litre of fuel, the Camry, I don't know, but lets say it does 40 mpg so would use about 140 litres. What is it in the 1 litre that is more than in the 140 litres? Have they picked on some tiny trace element to grab the headlines? It would be interesting to see a real technical reference for this claim.

I don’t know about your country, but in the US, small gasoline engines tend to be smoky, pollution-emitting ‘dragons’.
They also tend not to be maintained very well, getting a tune-up only when they won’t run any more.
Even in my state, without government action, there are a lot of battery-powered tools on the market ….
a big fldifference from the 2000’s when I had to go from store to store to find any lawnmowers that used electricity.

[RobA_Oz]

My (mains electricty-powered) leaf blower is also a leaf vacuum and mulcher – very handy on our hillside block with lots of nooks and crannies. I should add that our electricity is generated from hydro-power, and most of our native leaves aren’t of the soft deciduous variety, either, so the chopping mulcher is a great help in breaking them down. I get a good enough cardio workout just toting the thing around (and up and down).

Virtue-signalling here is using a petrol brush-cutter.

[reh321]

1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 + 1 etc, etc, etc adds up

Gas-Powered Lawn Equipment Will Soon Be Banned In California – CBS Sacramento

with the issue of electrical power outages in the state the ban on gas powered generators jumps out to me

Just after I responded to this thread {so, I was particularly alert to the issue}, a local power utility ran an ad talking mostly about their commitment to non-traditional sources, such as windmills. I have also seen entire fields covered with solar cells, and ‘windmill farms’ in the state.

We also get a certain amount of advertising for roof-mounted solar cells, emphasizing the availability of battery systems for night-time use.
If we get such advertising - with our winter-time ‘perma-cloud’ {we’re close to a really Great Lake}, I can only imagine the push in sunny California.

[Fontan]

Counting days until farting becomes illegal.

[Parallax]

I grew up in California. I had enough sense to leave when I graduated High School. In the late 80s the U.S. Air Force was convinced that I'd made a mistake and sent me back. During the 2 years that I was there one of the most remarkable laws I can remember was enacted. It became illegal to sell some paints in gallon cans. They could only be sold in quarts. Apparently, 4 quarts of paint painted on a building releases fewer VOCs into the air than a gallon does.

[RoxnDox]

Seems like some of y’all are pushing the line on politicizing the subject, eh? On the original subject, I foresee a brighter future for small engine repairs, since the ban is only on sales of *new*…

[Wheatfield]

Seems like some of y’all are pushing the line on politicizing the subject, eh? On the original subject, I foresee a brighter future for small engine repairs, since the ban is only on sales of *new*…

Cross border shopping will pick up in this area as well.