A green lawn mower

July 24, 2009 by Ben
Filed under: Uncategorized

About a month ago, I got a new lawn mower. I hadn’t really thought much about electric mowers, perhaps believing they wouldn’t have enough power or a long battery life. But really, I just didn’t know much about them. But I got interested, and checked models available online. I read that an Earthwise model has a strong 24Volt battery (lasts an hour), and so does a WORX model. It takes me about an hour to mow the yard, so it began to seem plausible that an electric mower could work for me.

I didn’t want to get something like this online if possible; I wanted to find someone who would sell it from their shop and, more importantly, would stand behind it with service if I needed that later. I called through a list of W-S and Triad garden centers, then I called Sedgefield Lawn & Garden Center in Jamestown (map). They do sell electric mowers. They had models in their shop for me to look at, from Earthwise and from WORX. They have a local distributor for both brands. I chose the WORX mower because it is lighter and I felt better about its quality and the ease of getting it serviced as needed. They kept the mower to assemble it and charged the battery, and the boys and I picked it up the following Saturday. Sedgefield even mailed me a card that week thanking me for my business!

Now for the best part: in the past, I generally had headaches, burning eyes and sneezing fits whenever I mowed, no matter the season. Maybe it’s not so surprising. But since using this mower which doesn’t spew exhaust in front of me for the hour it takes to mow the yard, I haven’t had any of those symptoms and it’s also much much quieter. And it has plenty of power and more than enough charge to last for my yard-mowing. The removable battery charges easily overnight. It makes mowing a pleasure!

Tags: green tech

Comments

4 Responses to “A green lawn mower”

Kim on July 27th, 2009 1:55 pm

What about Andrea’s allergies too?
Andrea on July 29th, 2009 3:50 pm

I am paranoid about going out after getting bronchitis so many times from mowing in the past, but I really haven’t had it since Ben got this mower. Even the day I was outside with you, Kim, while Ben was mowing, I didn’t wake up gasping! Maybe I am not actually allergic to cut grass–just exhaust!! Wouldn’t that be wonderful?
Summer on August 17th, 2009 8:52 pm

We got the worx trimmer two years ago and it has been great. I wish I had thought to find a place nearby that would sell it, that was great thinking!
I’m glad you were able to make an earth friendlier choice!!
Nancy on September 2nd, 2009 9:33 am

The benefits you’ve found from that mower are huge! So interesting to read all the details too– thanks for that.