Recharge Mower? (recycling, gas, pollution, boiler)

[Casey_Retrop]

Just got my new Recharge Mower a couple weeks ago and had to post after lurking here for a while.

Has anyone seen the commercials for this mower? I did and knew I had to have it. It's super sleek but built for comfort and durability.

Best of all is the fact that it's a green machine. It runs on rechargeable batteries, so that means no engine...which means no emissions. A single charge is lasting me long enough to do both my front and backyard twice and I've still got a charge left over enough to do the front again. It's inexpensive to run too, about 50 cents a charge. You can literally plug it in and forget it because it's got a memory indicator so the battery won't overcharge.

I couldn't be happier. Anyone else got one?

[thecoalman]

I hate to burst your bubble but since you're plugging it in it's most certainly creating emissions. Having said that not as much as gas powered however the greater concern with the battery operated lawnmower is the lead and other things the batteries which may actually make them less friendly to the environment. Frankly I was surprised to find currently they are less polluting than a gasoline lawnmower, generally speaking energy is most efficient when produced at the point it is needed. e.g. it's much more efficient to heat your house with a gas boiler in your basement than have a giant gas fired power plant down the road making electricity to heat it. I wouldn't be surprised if gasoline engines actually become more environmentally friendly in the future as they have really clamped down on them.

There's was another topic posted here on this subject not too long ago.

http://news.ufl.edu/2005/03/21/mower-pollute/
As a result, “the larger airborne lead emissions from the battery-powered lawn mower’s life cycle compared to the gasoline-powered mower’s implies a far greater risk of both noncarcinogenic and carcinogenic health effects from the battery-powered lawn mowers,” the study says.

Lindner said the problem is compounded when consumers don’t dispose of the battery properly, with the result of a potential leak from a landfill. “One conclusion of this story is we need a better policy for recycling these batteries,” she said.

By far the least polluting mowers were the corded variety, where pollution was limited to that caused by the power plant. But these mowers seem to suffer from an intractable image problem, Lindner noted. “Talk to some guys and gals about corded mowers and they’ll just curl their lips in protest,” she said.

[TpaPaul813]

plugging in is just passing the buck!