Re: Gas or Electric

[Gary Miller <gmiller@wmrc.uiuc.edu>]

Thomas,

How about using native landscaping and not mowing (plus conserving
water)?  

More directly to your question I urge you to read an article in
Environmental Science and Technology, Vol. 34, No. 22, pp. 4789 -4796 by
Micheal Overcash, et. al. in which they compare the underlying data and
assumptions used in different life cycle assessment models.  
They did not look at mowers but did look at power generation by various
energy sources.  The papers gives an idea of the tradeoffs and the
limitations to our understanding and basic data.  Everyone dealing
with LCA type issues should be required to read this article.  You
might be able to get the article at:

Link to issue table of contents:
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag/jtoc.cgi?esthag/34/22
Link to abstract:
http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/alljournals/jtext.cgi?esthag/34/i22/abs/es991140f
Link to full-text PDF:
http://pubs.acs.org/isubscribe/journals/esthag/jtext.cgi?esthag/34/i22/pdf/es991140f
Link to supporting information:
http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag/suppinfo/es991140f/es991140f_s.pdf

These URLs are for subscribers to that Journal.

Gary Miller   

At 11:14 AM 1/9/02 -0600, Thomas Vinson wrote:
> Which do you think is better for
> the environment overall.  A gas mower, or an electric mower. 
>
> While I believe it is electric, a colleague of mine believes that the
> loss in efficiency due to transfer means that the electric utility
> company has to burn more fuel to power the mower.  This loss in
> efficiency could offset the benefit of having a controlled
> emission.
>
> I suppose it also depends on the fuel at the plant, and wether the mower
> has a catalytic converter.  
>
> We both agree a push mower is a great alternative, though neither of us
> will actually get out and use it.   Push mowers also have a
> "waist" minimization effect.
>
>
> Tomas Vinson
> www.srwm.org
>
> Fax: 512/239-3165
> Phone: 512/239-3182
>
> Engineering Specialist
> TNRCC - Pollution Prevention
> MC112
> PO Box 13087
> Austin, Tx 78711-3087
> tvinson@tnrcc.state.tx.us

Gary D. Miller, Ph.D.
Assistant Director
Waste Management and Research Center
Illinois Department of Natural Resources
One East Hazelwood Drive
Champaign, Illinois 61820
217/333-8942 (phone)
217/333-8944 (fax)
Web Sites:  www.wmrc.uiuc.edu
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