My lawn is a solar collector. Energy is stored in the plant material, and it can be harvested after the lawn is mowed by firing the clippings in a combustor to generate heat or power. A more efficient use of this energy, however, is to recycle the clippings back into the lawn or into a garden as compost to offset petroleum-based fertilizer.
Given this interpretation of my lawn, it seemed wrong to buy a conventional gas-guzzling lawnmower to keep it trimmed. Why use a non-renewable energy source to harvest a renewable energy source? I might as well be in the corn ethanol business (see “Let the Sun Set on Corn-Based Ethanol”). To investigate other options, I found an excellent Web site, http://www.cleanairgardening.com/ , highlighting many alternatives to gas mowers. After a little research, I settled upon the Black & Decker CMM1200 Cordless Electric Lawnmower, which I purchased last week.
Perhaps the most environmentally benign option would have been a manual reel mower. However, I wanted to be able to mulch the clippings or collect them for composting as I desired. Plus, my reading suggested that manual reel mowers don’t handle weeds well, and my lawn has a pretty serious weed problem.
When I was a kid, one of my household chores was mowing the lawn with our gas mower. I remember jerking on the starter cord a dozen times to get the engine to turn over, inhaling exhaust fumes, being deafened by the engine roar, and having my hands vibrated so severely that I couldn’t feel my fingers. I also remember running out of gas and having to fill up the mower from the fuel can we kept in the garage. I hated mowing the lawn.
The cordless mower is a totally different experience. It is quiet and smooth. The engine easily turns on and off with a spring-actuated lever – no starter chord. At 76 pounds, the CMM1200 is a bit heavier than push gas mowers in its class (which usually run under 70 pounds) due to its 24-volt battery. However, it cuts grass just as well as its fossil-fuel-fired cousins, and frankly I need the exercise.
Of course, so long as the mower is recharging from a wall outlet, it is not truly using renewable energy. However, what sets cordless electric mowers apart from their plug-in counterparts is that the recharging station can be modified to use any electricity source, including solar power. Thus, as a long-term project, I plan to build a solar-powered charging station to make my cordless electric mower truly renewable. However, I will probably wait until the manufacturer’s warranty expires before attempting such a retrofit.
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