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Comment by voisin | Hacker News Reader

How about gas powered lawnmowers? Far more prevalent, awful for both sound and emissions.

As obnoxious as they are, no. Leaf blowers are WAAAAY worse.

I mean I do agree that gas lawn mowers are noisy obnoxious smokey things that blow dust around. But a leaf blower's whole purpose in life is to blow dirt around - and at full blast they're way louder than the loudest lawn mower.

Plus the lawn mower takes like 10-30 minutes to mow a yard in most yards out here. Probably 15 if the person operating it is doing it quickly.

Leaf blower though? I can see those jerks using those things for a good 45 minutes or so! Ugh.

Leaf blowers have always fascinated me as an example of a technology that seems to create more work than it saves. I grew up in the country, and I am pretty sure that I could rake our 2-acre lawn by hand in less time than it takes my current neighbor to chase leaves in circles around his half acre lot with a blower.

yes, especially when the "landscapers/gardeners" just blow most of the debris into the street for it to blow right back onto the sidewalk/into the yard later. just take 5 minutes to rake that shit up and put it in the trash or compost bin!

i have no idea why anyone who pays for such a service can't see, and correct, that obvious problem immediately. i see that and watering the concrete (usually by unattended sprinklers, but sometimes by someone with a hose) all the time in my neighborhood.

I'm curious how much of the USA's annual gasoline consumption is just neighbors blowing leaves back and forth among each other's yards until brownian motion eventually moves them all to the storm gutter, which promptly becomes clogged.

Plus a clear replacement exists: electric lawnmowers. People may argue that they're not as good, but they're certainly good enough for almost every case.

The upcoming battery powered models are getting pretty good. In some cases they have even more power than you can get from a gas motor, and of course the agility, quiet, and easy starting of an electric motor.

Lawn mowers at least have four-stroke engines instead of two. Although, as you say, vastly more prevalent.

They are 4 stroke, but they put small mufflers on them. Electric lawnmowers make a lot of noise, too. Not as bad as the droning of a 4 stroke at full throttle, but still noisy.

I long for the day we ban lawns. Do that, and lawn mowers and weed whackers would vanish overnight.

My neighbor started a new lawn. The amount of water he has been using during the last few weeks with this automated sprinkling system is staggering. There should be a more natural and robust solution, some mix of weeds and small flowers that's also walkable, but also gives bees and other insects a place to live.

I'm big into water wise landscaping, but there aren't really any species of groundcover that are both highly tolerant of foot traffic and also very water thrifty.

Mostly shaded bluegrass actually uses less water than full sun buffalograss. (And buffalograss can't handle shade) So tree plus grass is actually pretty water thrifty as well as keeping your house cool...

Depends on where you are. Lawnmower density decreases as population density increases. Scooter density is the other way round.

I'd ban them immediately. The noise and air pollution is insane. Have the government co-finance replacement electrical scooters if it helps.

Huh, I thought most of them were two stroke.

I'm not certain, but I think the inconvenience of premix in two strokes tipped the market to four strokes mowers.

Not for a long time. My cheap Walmart Murray was like $75 and is a fairly efficient four stroke, but is incredibly weak with the emissions tech and awful engine!

I guess it’s a question of where you live. I meant the actual lawnmowers people use rather than what is on the shelves today - I have only seen oily old two-strokers around me.

Also I thought low power gasoline engines were more efficient, but I guess they tend not to have any catalytic converters

All two-stroke engines require a gasoline/oil mix, AFAIK? I've used a dozen or so lawnmowers going back 40 years and don't think I've ever used one that required a mix...

That’s correct. I had a scooter in Asia that took oil in the fuel port just a couple years ago.

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