Time is running out for gas-powered leaf blowers in Montgomery County, Maryland. Sales of the devices were banned in July and this will be the last fall season where gas-powered leaf blowers can be used in the county.
Gas-powered leaf blowers are already prohibited in D.C. and their use in Montgomery County will be banned starting next July. Some who use the equipment on the daily are now voicing their concerns.
“We have invested an enormous amount of money into battery equipment to be compliant all the way up from mowers and blowers to trimmers and other types of lawn equipment,” said Finn Neilsen, co-owner of Bethesda-based Pineapple Landscaping.
Neilsen said his company has already spent about $150,000 on the battery-powered equipment, and finds it more expensive to purchase and less efficient than gas-powered equipment.
“It’s hard for us to charge these batteries on the fly. It’s one thing to plug them up overnight, get a full charge on them, but once they’re out in the field, it’s very difficult for us to keep them charged. … We can go buy a gas-powered leaf blower, and it costs us, on average, about $500,” said Neilsen.
Neilsen said that while he understands the noise can be a nuisance, the gas-powered leaf blowers are useful and efficient.
He said the batteries that the new leaf blowers take commercial-scale battery units and the shell backpacks that hold them in can cost up to $1,000.
“If you’re getting commercial units, each unit will run you, just with one battery, close to $2,000. And if you’ve got three guys in a truck going down the road to do a cleanup … those guys need three blowers. Those batteries, if you run them full blast, they last all of about 20 minutes. You’re going to need five or six, maybe seven, batteries to rotate as the guys are going through the day. And it’s impossible to keep them charged,” said Neilsen.
“It’s very, very challenging. The technology is not there,” he added.
Montgomery County says the ban on gas-powered leaf blowers will reduce harmful emissions and help with a decreased reliance on fossil fuels. The county added that the battery-powered devices are also better for the health of the equipment operators, lessening impacts that contribute to hearing loss and heart and respiratory disease.
The county is planning a webinar Thursday, Oct. 24, at 7 p.m. on the use and care of battery-powered leaf blowers.
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