Two Stroke Engines

Some of the worst polluters are the 2-stroke engines used for much lawn care equipment. "The hydrocarbon emissions from a half-hour of yard work with the two-stroke leaf blower are about the same as a 3,900-mile drive from Texas to Alaska in a Ford Raptor pickup," said Jason Kavanagh, Engineering Editor at Edmunds.com. "

I don't really know what our landscapers have for equipment, but let's be sure they use electric blowers and make it possible for them. There may be logistics for recharging, but we can help. Let's make them the greenest landscapers around. We should extract a promise that they replace retired equipment with electric.

If you agree, please take the poll to the right - the FHA grounds coordinator will be notified. One response per household please!

Be sure to read this good article in Atlantic by Jim Fallows. here are some facts:

• VOC emissiodns (a variety of carbon gases that can produce smog and harm human beings) were on average 124 times higher from an idling two-stroke scooter than from a truck or a car.
• With respect to benzene, a carcinogenic pollutant, the group found that each cubic meter of exhaust from an idling two-stroke scooter contained 60,000 times the safe level

I like our landscaper - he works hard  and things look good.  This week, in our small  cul-de-sac. we had mulching, which required 6 leaf blowers for 6 hours.  Bad for their health, bad for ours.