EVs For Your Garden

Over recent years there has been a growing awareness about the importance of aiding pollinators in private gardens and public spaces by reducing mowing of grassy areas, and planting pollinator-friendly plants.

This is critical to reverse the global pollinator decline that we have seen since the end of the 20th Century, with 10% of bee and butterfly species nearing extinction in Europe – while one third of the 99 bee species in Ireland are at risk according to MaREI.

However, one aspect of gardening that is rarely discuss are the emissions that come from the basic machines that we use in our gardens, from lawn mowers, to hedge trimmers and leaf blowers. Today, we look at the emissions created by these devices, and show why switching from fossil fuel-powered devices to electric ones can help to cut your carbon footprint.

Cutting Grass, Growing Emissions

The vast majority of garden devices in use today are powered by fossil fuels, and their emissions are not regulated in the same way that car emissions are – with no catalytic converters or other devices to reduce the amount of harmful pollutants pumped into the air.

In fact, garden equipment like lawn mowers emit nitrogen oxide and other volatile compounds 11 times more toxic than cars, and using the average petrol-powered lawn mower for an hour creates as many harmful pollutants as driving a typical car for 482km (300 miles), according to the US EPA.

While no data on lawn mower emissions exists for Ireland, the US EPA estimates that fossil fuel lawn mower emissions account for as much as 5% of the US’s total air pollution.

If you think lawn mowers are bad, they are eclipsed by leaf blowers – which may be the most polluting and least energy efficient device ever created.

While much of this data comes from the US, it is still relevant in Ireland and reflects our nation’s reliance on fossil fuel powered devices. Sadly, there just isn’t any data available on just how much our garden devices emit in Ireland.

“The EPA estimates that fossil fuel lawn mower emissions account for as much as 5% of the US’s total air pollution”

But there is hope to overcome these harmful emissions that are so unknowingly created every day. , If every petrol-powered lawn mower in the US were replaced with an electric one, it would save the same amount of emissions as removing 2 million cars from the road, according to non-profit Electric Power Research Institute.

And electric garden devices have come a long way in recent years.

Greener Gardening

When you think of an electric lawn mower, you probably think of a device with a long cable that you keep tripping over, but a new raft of battery-powered lawn mowers have entered the market in recent years offering efficient, cable-free mowing.

Again, like electric cars, electric garden tools require considerably less maintenance than their fossil fuel-powered counterparts as they have fewer moving parts and don’t require ignition, so this means much less wear-and-tear. Which will save you money in the long term.

They’re also significantly quieter than petrol lawn mowers, with battery-powered mowers clocking in at around 75 decibels, while fossil fuel-powered mowers produce upwards of 95-100 decibels.

Battery Gardening Case Study

Our Editor and his family have been using the Greenworks range of battery-powered garden tools for the past two years.

It’s worth saying that he paid for these himself and that Greenworks has not provided any devices or had any input into this article. They are simply the brand that he preferred.

While this might be slightly more expensive than the upfront cost of a petrol mower, remember that the running costs are significantly cheaper, and that you won’t be creating any emissions.

In terms of charging, Greenworks offers rapid-charging for some of its batteries, with a 30 minute charge offering around an hour of cutting long, thick grass in our experience.

Smaller batteries do not come with rapid charging options yet, but will typically offer around 30 minutes of use for around 15-20 minutes of charge time. And they are lighter too, so if you’re using a strimmer or a hedge cutter, it’s less weight for you to have to balance.

“A 30 minute charge offers around an hour of cutting when mowing long, thick grass”

In terms of ease-of-use, our Editor cannot recommend battery-powered garden tools highly enough. They retain their charge well, so you can put them in the shed for a couple of weeks and take them out when needed, and they’re ready to go.

Pressing a button is so much easier than having to deal with pull-chords for engines, and the added benefit of these devices running so quietly cannot be understated. They are quiet enough to have a conversation at normal level – so there’s less of a worry about disturbing the neighbours or local wildlife.

And the Greenworks mowers that our Editor and his family use all come with multiple options for either catching the grass cuttings in a grass bag, or mulching. The latter is considerably more preferable, as it returns the nutrients to the soil, avoiding the need for harmful chemicals used to promote lawn growth – in fact, leaving grass clippings to decompose on the lawn could lead to 16.7 teragrams of carbon storage each year according to NASA Earth Observatory.

While IrishEVs would encourage you to follow the guidance to re-wild as much of your garden as possible, and to cut your grass and hedges as infrequently as possible, if you care about the Climate Crisis and want to maintain your garden, battery-powered electric devices are a no-brainer.

The simple act of switching from petrol-powered garden tools to battery-powered ones could help make a sizeable dent in Ireland’s 2030 emissions targets, as well as improving public health.

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