From a publication by the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy:
“...driving a Ford F-150 Raptor truck from Texas to Alaska would emit the same amount of air pollution as a mere half-hour of yard work with a two-stroke, gas-powered leaf blower.
Indeed, the car company Edmunds estimated that some gas leaf blowers generate 23 times the carbon dioxide of the Raptor and 300 times more non-methane hydrocarbons. Both contribute to climate change and harm public health. Worse yet, gas-powered leaf blowers also emit nitrous oxide. The EPA estimates that the impact of one pound of nitrous oxide on warming the atmosphere is almost 300 times that of an equivalent pound of carbon dioxide. Professor Karen Jubanyik at Yale School of Medicine has astutely noted that lawn equipment may become one of the country’s largest sources of pollution.
Second, gas-powered leaf blowers are loud. Really loud. Some gas-powered leaf blowers generate a roar at 100 decibels, laying waste to topsoil, insects, and the environment while blasting air at 280 miles an hour.
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Third, gas-powered lawn care has been linked to debilitating health issues, such as cancer, asthma, heart disease and hearing loss.”
Enough said.
Loreen Folsom,
Missoula