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And we wear masks and other protective equipment, so we’re fine using the gas ones.
Sadly oblivious to reality
Same article without having to register to read it:
https://www.genemarks.com/blog/californias-landscapers-to-bear-brun...
You don't need to register to read the original article- you simply press the 'X' where it says to continue reading 🤷♂️
If battery power tools are a really good and viable alternative to petrol engine drive pin versions there isn’t actually any need enforce change with legislation as contractors will make the change anyway.
Ultimately the cost of purchasing, maintaining and running all tools and equipment has to go onto the customers bills, it will be the customers who eventually pick up the cost as it will be over here in the UK with customers having to pick up the cost of replacing contractors vehicles or paying the low emission zone charges if the contractors have an older vehicle.
I did a job in Bath a couple of weeks ago around a hundred metres from the low emission zone boundary, I phoned the customer and asked about parking, she said if I could not park the Vicar would let me park on the Vicarage drive, she didn’t like having to use his drive for visitors and tradespeople, but sometimes there isn’t an alternative. She said the restrictions in Bath have made parking in her road extremely challenging, because commuters and shoppers now park in the street and walk into the city centre, she and her cleaner both said that a lot of tradespeople have got rid of their vans and bought large old estate cars that aren’t any more environmentally friendly, but are not subject to the low emission zone charges.
People frequently comment on how much tradespeople charge in cities, but there are reasons for it, including the cost of complying with local legislation and parking.
No doubt the move to battery power ped equipment should be encouraged, whether it is time for legislation to start to force change rather than relying on user take up is another matter.
Consider light bulbs.
Some years ago the UK Government wrote into the Building Regulations that new build houses and flats had to have dedicated low energy light fittings that would only take compact flourescent light bulbs, there are still people who have these fittings all through their homes and find it difficult to source replacement CFL bulbs, I was in a retirement complex a few weeks ago where it really needs someone to go through and replace all the light fittings, but most are in flats where it's the homeowners responsibility to maintain their lights despite some of them being in the eighties and ninties or disabled
In the meantime most of the people in the UK have been replacing the old light bulbs of all types with new LED light bulbs, because they are an easy straight swap.
Legislation generally lags behind technical advances rather than leading them and doesn't keep pace with changes.
As we are finding many gardens are perfectly manageable with cordless mowers and machinery . Petrol driven mowers need replacing at regular intervals and also incur repair / service charges . I suspect it will be a case of replacing a worn out petrol mower with a new cordless mower .
Hopefully governments will help make that transition more affordable for all businesses especially the ones with employees .
Perhaps more wilding of gardens will also be encouraged meaning less machine maintenance .
Less disturbance of habitats , fewer manicured gardens .
Gardening on the ciriculum taught as a life skill at school .
Everyone is walking and driving around on a high California because drugs are legal and they are mostly a bunch of hippies wanting to do good.
The fact is that the rest of the USA will only follow California when the kit is good enough and the price is low enough, which may by five years away.
I went to Saltex on Wednesday afternoon, I had some interesting conversations and listened to exhibitors on stands explaining things to other visitors.
On both the Makita and Husqvarna stands I heard the comment that trigger time on power equipment is a lot less users actually think it is.
Another comment on the Husqvarna stand is that cordless electric power tools can be “smart” and can have features that petrol engine powered tools can’t.
For example some of the Husqvarna hedge cutters stop and back up if they jam, releasing the branch rather than binding on it as a petrol engine powered tool would, even if the operator has kept the trigger engaged.
So there’s a strong argument that battery life is longer than people anticipate and the tools work more efficiently protecting themselves and the operator from damage and injury.