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Re: (ET) (no subject)

I have heard the EPA is out to regulate mowers and BBQs for years. BBQ owners (the charcoal type anyway) release vast amounts of unburned hydrocarbons into the atmosphere while lighting them. seriously, that's the reason given. As for mowers, the numbers given are, I believe, the RATE of pollution, not the total amount. Do you walk behind your mower to work everyday? I don't. In fact, I would be hard pressed to say I mow my suburban lot more than an hour a week. I doubt that this level of use will pollute more than the auto milage racked up by the average American every week. I think the world would be better served if the EPA were bundled off to China where the "marginal gains" from regulation of the gross and increasing pollution there would be far more significant than the regulation of lawn mowers and BBQs here.
It is also interesting to speculate on the total "pollution budget" of building, operating, and retiring an ET. Let's not forget that the fuel for an ET must be generated somewhere at some level of pollution. What about the gasses generated when the batteries cycle? Granted that it may be well regulated and a relatively minor amount per unit of "ET fuel", but using the tractor is associated with some level of pollution in energy generation elsewhere. In addition, we have a large number of batteries compared to the average lawn tractor with lots of lead. I wonder what pollution is associated with the manufacturer and recycling of batteries? If we want to compare the ET to a walk behind push lawn mower like mine ( 4hp), then we have to wonder about the pollution (and $$ too) of the entire frame, wheels, molded rubber tires, transmission, additional oils, etc. In fact, if we want to argue that we are comparing the alternatives of the ET to a gravel "lawn" (no fertilizers used), then the costs of estate maintenance would make the ET look very bad.
My point is simply to suggest that we shouldn't be too cocky and simplistic is dealing with solutions to pollution. The answers are not always as obvious as "I solved the pollution problem - I use an ET." After all, if we had a totalitarian government (no Bush jokes please), we could all be riding bicycles to "solve" the pollution problem. In fact, China is doing just the opposite as it becomes a more consumer oriented society, and our pollution problems are dwarfed by theirs in some respects. As ET owners, we need to understand that electric vehicles are only the tip of the iceberg, and may in fact have significant pollution and other societal costs associated with them. 




At 03:06 AM 7/11/2006, David C Robie wrote:

Hear Hear !   This lawn mowing info needs to get more public.

  Incidentally,  speaking of  pollution we ain't putting out,  why don't
all you guys hit the NEEAA (New England chapter, Electric Automobile
Assn) website and download the 'Fuel Saver's Guide'.   ET's are mentioned
in it.   This is a 40 page public domain Ebook which will print out
properly on Win 98 computers with MS Office 7 but will need the front
page reformatted to paginate the whole thing properly with Win XP
computers.  Some day someone will do it up in PDF so everyone can print
it on anything, even an Apple, with Acrobat.   Get it at  WWW. NEEAA.ORG
    FSG has a dual purpose;  To save a person money and to save the
planet's resources, IE underground petroleum and our atmosphere vis a vis
greenhouse gases.
At the local  Earth day show, bout 50 CD copies were given out at the
NEEAA display to people who had computers but no internet.
Incidentally, FSG has a  'fuel saving tip' in it on lawnmowing - to do it
less often, let the grass grow higher between mows.  Us ET people don't
have to worry about that. :>)
Dave
Weymouth MA

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 03:33:48 +0000 willaim att net writes:
> A recent newspaper article stated that the EPA is poised to offer new
> emission standards for lawn mowers. New push mowers emit pollution
> equal to 11 new cars and new riding mowers pollute equal to 34 new
> cars. They propose that manufacturers be required to install
> catalytic converters which may reduces emissions by 80%. There are
> 52 million lawn mowers presently spewing pollution into our
> atmosphere.
> I offer this only as a feel-good note to all EV folks. As we hum
> around our lawns on our ETs, we are contributing very little to the
> causes of poor air quality or noise pollution...and none to gas
> price pollution. Maybe we deserve medals of freedom.
>
> Bill Alburty E-12 66206
>
> _______________________________________________
> Elec-trak mailing list
> Elec-trak cosmos phy tufts edu
> https://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/mailman/listinfo/elec-trak
>


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