Gas lawn tools: A blast from the past?

Gas-powered leaf blowers blasted countless communities into noisy debates, but high emissions might mean they finally bite the dust.

Major Canadian cities are considering a ban on gas-powered lawn and garden equipment to slash planet-heating carbon dioxide emissions. Battery-powered alternatives offer the same tools at similar expense, while reducing maintenance issues, fuel costs and pollution.

The use of gas-powered tools declined between 2011 and 2021. At equipment vendors, gas- and battery-powered equipment sales are often equal. Some jurisdictions have already fully or partly switched to battery-powered tools.

Homeowners are starting to realize that cutting their grass for an hour with a gas-powered lawn mower pollutes as much as a motorist driving five hours between Ottawa and Quebec City. And using a gas-powered leaf blower for an hour will match the emissions of a 2016 Toyota Camry hybrid driving from Vancouver to Regina.

Vancouver is now contemplating a ban on personal and residential gas-powered landscaping equipment and will discuss the possibility of a phase-out with staff this year, the city confirmed.

Vancouver doesn’t have authority to regulate equipment emissions, but it can regulate the gear under its noise bylaw and only permits “low noise” leaf blowers. Gas-powered leaf blowers, in particular, cause so many noise complaints that Vancouver’s west end in 2004 became Canada’s first neighbourhood to ban them. The city confirmed this ban includes all leaf blowers.

The city recognizes a need for “new electric equipment options” and is working with Metro Vancouver Regional District on a wider approach to reduce landscaping equipment emissions.

While Vancouver’s park board converted 35 per cent of its landscaping equipment to battery power, this has revealed limitations of battery life, power levels and available charging stations.

“A city-wide prohibition on all gas-powered landscaping equipment, or a specific prohibition on gas-powered leaf blowers, would encounter the same challenges, and likely would be unsuccessful,” Doug Smith, of the city’s planning department, wrote in a memo to council.

In 2022, Oak Bay became one of the first B.C. communities to start phasing out gas-powered garden tools for municipal staff. They’ll be banned by 2026.

Former councillor Tara Ney, who extended the phase-out to residential equipment, said she sought a “just transition” that gave homeowners several years to move away from gas-powered tools. She didn’t want to “unnecessarily burden” residents who spent thousands of dollars on equipment.

“When people know that it’s going to shift, there’s this window of time when people don’t have to act, but they can have discussions,” said Ney, who uses a battery-powered leaf blower and added that pro-battery sentiments can be “contagious.”

Outside B.C., reliance on gas-powered equipment is also shifting:

• Ottawa: Last April, the National Capital Commission banned gas-powered leaf blowers, trimmers and small chainsaws for “all major landscaping and maintenance contracts” in the jurisdiction, which owns one-tenth of the National Capital Region.
• Toronto: The city has proposed $305,000 in its 2024 budget to potentially enact a ban on gas-powered lawn equipment. It already encourages leaf blower users to switch to battery power, rake their leaves or mulch them with a lawn mower.
• Halifax: The city has invested in battery-powered lawn equipment and says it will transition away from gas-powered tools “when operationally suitable.” It put roughly $26,000 in 2023 toward battery-powered units, including about $5,500 to replace gas-powered leaf blowers, Halifax Regional Municipality said.

Battery leaf blowers ‘a lot quieter’

One lure of battery-powered leaf blowers is their relative lack of noise compared to gas-powered machines.

The quieter option is what prompted Kathy Reichert, from Vancouver’s Shaughnessy neighbourhood, to switch out her gas-powered leaf blower and edger a couple years ago.

“It’s a nicer area, and most people have gardeners,” Reichert said. “When you have these gardeners come [with gas-powered leaf blowers], it’s incredibly loud.”

The first battery Reichert purchased with her leaf blower didn’t last long but, coming from gas-powered tools, she wasn’t deterred by battery-powered equipment costs and has managed between two newer batteries that charge in two hours.

Gas-powered leaf blowers cost as little as $285, but battery-powered ones can be just $200. Gas-powered edgers cost upward of $400 and double the lowest prices of battery-powered edgers, which are as cheap as $200 with battery included.

Like some homeowners, “I was skeptical too, but then I tried [battery] and it had a lot more power than I thought it would,” Reichert said. “It’s a lot quieter. It’s easy to start and it’s easy to turn on and off.”

Customers switching, but gas needed

At lawn equipment stores, gas-powered units remain hot sellers but more and more customers are buying battery-powered tools.

For some jobs, they lack the same power and run time as gas-powered units, but aficionados say the costs of battery-powered equipment match gas prices longer term.

“We still have a lot of people with hesitation about battery,” said Farid Faizi, manager of Yarmand Tech Ltd. in Ottawa, noting sales have only taken flight in the last five to eight years.

Yet battery-powered tools already fill some shelf space and suffer fewer maintenance issues.

“Battery is fully recommended so you don’t have gas carburetor problems,” Faizi said.

At other stores, customers are split evenly between gas- and battery-powered tools.

“I think a lot of them are willing to make that transition,” said Corey Methven, manager of Arrow Equipment Ltd. in North Vancouver.

He said customers may pay $350 for a standard battery but recommends spending about $500.

“To get any power out of these units, you will run through the battery really quick.”

While stores can persuade customers to buy battery-powered equipment, the manufacturers designing equipment and setting prices ultimately influence whether customers switch, Methven said. He also doesn’t think banning gas-powered tools is a “viable option.”

“There’s definitely a use for both [gas and battery],” Methven said.

Dwight Pennell, who manages Integrity Sales and Distributors in Central Saanich, B.C., says heavier-duty equipment, such as chainsaws, run better on gas.

“If [the battery] doesn’t have the voltage of amp power, people get disappointed,” he said, adding that battery-powered tools can’t fully replace gas.

“You don’t want to undersell them and you don’t want to oversell them.”

Lowering costs of battery

The cost of switching to battery-powered tools, while cheaper than gas-powered options in the long run, may still inhibit homeowners. In bigger cities, the distance to service centres and wait times for repairs can be long, says Tim Willison, executive director of the Toronto Tool Library.

This non-profit library, collecting and loaning only battery-powered equipment since 2012, works to make these tools more affordable and accessible for Torontonians. The group recently approached the city about providing more battery-powered options.

Willison said it offers the convenience of using battery-powered tools for short-term needs without having to supply, store and maintain them. And, at $55 for an annual membership, people don’t have to break the bank.

“We try to make it more practical to share these items,” Willison said, adding his team works with service centres in Scarborough and Mississauga to save residents the hour-long drive and months-long wait times for equipment repairs.

The library stores everything from power washers and lawn mowers, to back-saving electric snow shovels. It has also invested in brushless battery motors that weigh less, generate more power, last longer and make even less noise.

Willison suggested a pilot program with the city would allow Toronto to test battery-powered equipment brands and logistics before making a big jump, though “from our experience, most people prefer the electric at this point.”