clean tools

[fishnetman]

I think this is something that needs to be talked about,mowers, trimmers,any gas powered tools that are cleaner.opinnions and stats.or EPA testing.

[Avery]

Most are already doing this. Stihl's new line is low emissions.

[dan deutekom]

A goat

[crawdad]

Originally posted by dan deutekom
A goat

They leave a nasty odor, too.
Crawdad

[trying 2b organic]

You guys arent going to beleive this but a friend here on Vancouver Island has customers who pay him to cut with a human powered reel mower and trim with a battery powered electric trimmer. sucessfully sold to rich baby boomers in this very environmentally aware area as noise and pollution free lawn care. welcome to the future of lawn care

[yardmonkey]

OK - check this out:
http://oklahomawind.com/lawncare.html
Yes, that's right, he's using a trailer pulled with a bicycle to transport his human-powered lawn tools!
I've been meaning to call this guy and meet with him. I'm interested in how this has worked out, what kind of mower he's using, etc. Not that I would attempt such a radical thing, though you never know what the future holds. Some people say that "peak oil" is very close. That means that soon, when all the oil that is easy to extract has been taken out, the price of oil will climb and climb as the remaining oil is harder to extract. It is not inconcievable that lawn mowers will be illegal in a decade or so. Yes, it is very interesting that we can actually see people already doing commercial lawn care with human-powered tools.
A friend of mine had a lawn care business a few years ago using only electric tools. He used both corded and battery-powered mowers and trimmers and had several people working for him.

I have found electric tools to be pretty much impractical for commercial use so far, but then they don't really make any commercial-quality electric mowers or trimmers yet. But I think they have been in the works for a while and may appear soon. Probably will be very expensive and involve backpack batteries.

I think the best choices now are to just try to use 4-cycle engines instead of 2-cycle. Otherwise, the newer your equipment is, probably the cleaner it is. I started using Robin 4-cycle trimmers a couple of years ago and was very happy with them until I started trashing them. I think they have a design flaw - the air filter is misted by the oil, which causes the oil to get low if you don't keep on it. I now use Honda 4- cycle trimmers which do not have this problem (or any problems I can see). Clean and quiet. The new Honda HHT series trimmers are absolutely the best trimmers you can buy, a big improvement over their older UMK series. I hope they can come up with a 4-cycle blower.

I remember when I was a kid I would do trimming with little hand-held grass clippers and edginng with one of those wheel-on-a-stick edgers.

Check this out:
http://www.scythesupply.com/
Perhaps we'll be back to mowing with scythes someday!

And this may be a good source for more info on lawn tools:
http://opei.mow.org

[Dchall_San_Antonio]

I'll bet those guys are in excellent physical condition!