7 ms·

I live in DC, a few bits of info about why it makes sense here, and may not make sense in your home: 1. They didn't ban leaf blowers, the banned _gas_ leaf blo

I live in DC, a few bits of info about why it makes sense here, and may not make sense in your home: 1. They didn't ban leaf blowers, the banned _gas_ leaf blowers. Electric ones are quieter, inexpensive, and work just as well nowadays. My building has an electric Milwaukee that was 200 bucks and lasts all afternoon on a battery or two. 2. This isn't about people wanting to manicure their lawns out in the burbs at 7am on Saturdays and using a gallon of gas per decade. DC is relatively dense with mid-rises and office buildings, it's the grounds crews and landscapers running them 9-5. 3. Coincidentally now with the age of work from home it's an extra boon not to have your neighboring building's super blasting a leaf blower below your window at 11am during your zoom meeting. With any policy you have to look at the downsides -- people and companies have to buy new leaf blowers and batteries, what's the cost in money and environment? But I think they're fairly minor compared to the upsides in pollution and peace and quiet. The main people who get hurt by this policy are small business landscapers, who are eligible for a subsidy to help replace equipment, which I think is a nice compromise.

mhb 4y ago
> people and companies have to buy new leaf blowers and batteries It seems hopelessly anachronistic and impractical, but why can't rakes be an alternative? It would take more time, but the landscapers would be paid more if they're working hourly.
- throwaway0a5e 4y ago
  a) Rakes b) Double digit minimum wage c) Being able to afford a landscaper. Pick two. I own a rake and use it my damn self, which shouldn't matter but probably does.
- kilotaras 4y ago
  > landscapers would be paid more Landscapers with leafblowers would outcompete landscapers with rakes.
  - tifik 4y ago
    I think the point was that since they banned gas leaf blowers, they might as well have banned all leaf blowers, leaving nothing but hand tools. Of course someone could invent a hand-cranked blower or something... would be interesting to see exactly what loopholes in the legal wording people would find.
    - galdosdi 4y ago
      What? No. There's still electric leaf blowers allowed. They exist and work fine (but are a little more expensive)
      - tifik 4y ago
        Yes, I know. Parent was proposing a hypothetical scenario.
    - gonzo41 4y ago
      I'd just use air from a motorized large volume air compressor with a long spray attachment. Technically, not a leaf blower. Ahh malicious compliance!
- bradfa 4y ago
  Much of the leaf blower usage in my area is just to blow the grass clippings back onto the lawn when they end up in the street/driveway/parking lot/sidewalk/etc. If the mower just had a mulching system which trapped the cut grass under itself, then there'd be no need to blow the cut grass at all, it would already be on the lawn. It's funny to me watching the lawn crews get out their blowers at the end of every mow to blow the grass clippings. It seems like such a waste of time, and hence money to pay them for that labor. Simply preventing the need for using a leaf blower seems like something someone should solve for these lawn crews.
  - rhinoceraptor 4y ago
    Many mowers do have a mulching setting, but you will still get grass clippings all over the sidewalk.
  - wccrawford 4y ago
    My mower has a mulcher, but it isn't the mower that's the problem. It's the edger. Gotta get the remains from that off the sidewalk afterwards. I have all electric tools and it's amazing how quiet they are. My neighbor laughed at me for wearing hearing protection until I told him they have Bluetooth in them. ;)
- nihilist_t21 4y ago
  My house has a lot of small rock landscaping for water drainage. You can't rake the leaves over that without taking all the rock with it.
  - francisofascii 4y ago
    One or two minutes of use should be enough to get those spots. The real issue is people who run things things for an hour. A time limit per day would be ideal.
- jtbayly 4y ago
  You can't rake grass clippings off the sidewalk. But... I suppose you can sweep them with a broom.
- tenebrisalietum 4y ago
  Leaf blowers are useful for things other than literally blowing leaves. I use one to dust out my car, garage, and also clean vacuum filters. Very carefully used it can dust off old PCs and laptops as well
Sankozi 4y ago
> They didn't ban leaf blowers, the banned _gas_ leaf blowers. Electric ones are quieter, inexpensive, and work just as well nowadays. While noise is an issue with gas blowers, the biggest issue with all kinds of blowers is how much air pollution they cause by putting dust back into the air.
- ZeroGravitas 4y ago
  The real problem with <fossil fuel powered thing> is actually <the thing that removing the fossil fuels doesn't affect> is a popular lie with no basis in fact. If something is burning fossil fuels then that's almost certainly the fix with the most bang-per-buck. Especially 2-stroke engines. Electrify everything. But yeah, protective equipment for workers is still required with electric blowers and air quality matters.
- googlryas 4y ago
  How does every leaf blower in the world compare with one gusty day?
rob74 4y ago
I would really wish other cities followed suit. And I propose to extend this to a ban on all devices with noisy and smelly two-stroke engines: chainsaws, lawn mowers, motor scooters etc. The scooters may not be a problem in Washington, but anyone who has ever been to an Italian or Spanish city can probably relate...
- showerst 4y ago
  I agree with the sentiment but pragmatically I think we have to time bans to when replacements are really equivalent or better-- electric mowers in particular are still 4x the cost and get mixed reviews, and I don't think chainsaw usage is a huge civic problem here in DC, but I don't live next to any big parks. Maybe we could also go with making new ones illegal to sell, though we'd have to coordinate with MD and VA which seems unlikely. Leaf blowers are a slam dunk, I don't know enough about scooters to comment intelligently.
  - rob74 4y ago
    With scooters, of course you could argue that a two-stroke-engine scooter is still better than a car that emits more CO2 (and even more if it's stuck in traffic or searching for a parking spot in some European city center). But electric scooters are definitely competitive and noise-free - of course more expensive, but still affordable, at least for an average European income.
    - enragedcacti 4y ago
      2-strokes are actually pretty astoundingly awful for pollution and air quality. They emit so much that when running a leafblower and an F-150 Raptor the same amount of time, the leafblower will emit orders of magnitude more pollutants, save for CO2 specifically. pretty much any vehicle on the road is emitting less hydrocarbons per-mile than a two-stroke. Obviously CO2 is a problem for global warming, but I definitely don't think its worth the air pollution trade-offs of a two stroke in a crowded city, especially when 4-stroke alternatives exist and are better in almost every way. https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-...
hgazx 4y ago
- bombcar 4y ago
  It's actually correct - leaf blowers are one of the first things that the electrics caught up on, because all you need to do is spin a fan really, really fast. The problem with electric tools has always been the run-time, they've been functional but without recent battery technology, changing batteries every 10-15m was simply impractical.
xkcd-sucks 4y ago
> Electric ones are quieter, inexpensive, and work just as well nowadays. My building has an electric Milwaukee that was 200 bucks and lasts all afternoon on a battery or two Not really. I committed to the Milwaukee battery system and now have a leaf blower, a string trimmer, and a chainsaw, to maintain a few acres (nothing fancy just keeping it from being overrun with invasives). They all perform reasonably well in the instantaneous sense, but battery performance is a huge limiting factor. I get about 15-20 minutes of total runtime from everything at conservative speeds (turtle mode for the trimmer/blower, medium speed for the chainsaw). But the bigger issue is heat dissipation, if you actually run them for 5 minutes in a row the battery heats up, drains super quickly, and the thermal failsafe shuts it down. Then the battery takes quite a long time to cool off during which time it can't be charged. To run these things at full load you need a collection of like 10 batteries (very expensive even if using "compatible" knockoffs) and a second person managing the battery logistics. So, using these practically means running them in very short bursts with cooldown time in between, which is usually not conducive to efficient work patterns. For the chainsaw, instead of felling a tree, then limbing/bucking it, then moving the wood to its storage place, it's more like do one or two cuts, move the pieces to storage, repeat - And a helper can't speed things up by moving wood as I'm bucking it. That being said, I typically don't drop more than 1 tree at a time and it is nice to not have to stop and restart a gas chainsaw. The string trimmer is good for hitting small patches / edges separated by distance, but I actually bought another gas trimmer for mowing my rocky+stumpy hillside. The leaf blower is basically garbage I regret buying; I went back to using a rake and have used the blower maybe once or twice for blowing powdery snow off of things and accelerating fires, mostly just because the thing is in my garage. The one consistently good thing about them is it's possible to use them after dark without seeming like a total crackhead, which is nice I guess
kazinator 4y ago
> have to buy new leaf blowers and batteries Or, you know, leave the god forsaken leaves where they are instead of blowing them ten feet over? Most useless activity ever.

mhb 4y ago

> people and companies have to buy new leaf blowers and batteries It seems hopelessly anachronistic and impractical, but why can't rakes be an alternative? It would take more time, but the landscapers would be paid more if they're working hourly.

throwaway0a5e 4y ago
a) Rakes b) Double digit minimum wage c) Being able to afford a landscaper. Pick two. I own a rake and use it my damn self, which shouldn't matter but probably does.
kilotaras 4y ago
> landscapers would be paid more Landscapers with leafblowers would outcompete landscapers with rakes.
- tifik 4y ago
  I think the point was that since they banned gas leaf blowers, they might as well have banned all leaf blowers, leaving nothing but hand tools. Of course someone could invent a hand-cranked blower or something... would be interesting to see exactly what loopholes in the legal wording people would find.
  - galdosdi 4y ago
    What? No. There's still electric leaf blowers allowed. They exist and work fine (but are a little more expensive)
    - tifik 4y ago
      Yes, I know. Parent was proposing a hypothetical scenario.
  - gonzo41 4y ago
    I'd just use air from a motorized large volume air compressor with a long spray attachment. Technically, not a leaf blower. Ahh malicious compliance!
bradfa 4y ago
Much of the leaf blower usage in my area is just to blow the grass clippings back onto the lawn when they end up in the street/driveway/parking lot/sidewalk/etc. If the mower just had a mulching system which trapped the cut grass under itself, then there'd be no need to blow the cut grass at all, it would already be on the lawn. It's funny to me watching the lawn crews get out their blowers at the end of every mow to blow the grass clippings. It seems like such a waste of time, and hence money to pay them for that labor. Simply preventing the need for using a leaf blower seems like something someone should solve for these lawn crews.
- rhinoceraptor 4y ago
  Many mowers do have a mulching setting, but you will still get grass clippings all over the sidewalk.
- wccrawford 4y ago
  My mower has a mulcher, but it isn't the mower that's the problem. It's the edger. Gotta get the remains from that off the sidewalk afterwards. I have all electric tools and it's amazing how quiet they are. My neighbor laughed at me for wearing hearing protection until I told him they have Bluetooth in them. ;)
nihilist_t21 4y ago
My house has a lot of small rock landscaping for water drainage. You can't rake the leaves over that without taking all the rock with it.
- francisofascii 4y ago
  One or two minutes of use should be enough to get those spots. The real issue is people who run things things for an hour. A time limit per day would be ideal.
jtbayly 4y ago
You can't rake grass clippings off the sidewalk. But... I suppose you can sweep them with a broom.
tenebrisalietum 4y ago
Leaf blowers are useful for things other than literally blowing leaves. I use one to dust out my car, garage, and also clean vacuum filters. Very carefully used it can dust off old PCs and laptops as well

Sankozi 4y ago

> They didn't ban leaf blowers, the banned _gas_ leaf blowers. Electric ones are quieter, inexpensive, and work just as well nowadays. While noise is an issue with gas blowers, the biggest issue with all kinds of blowers is how much air pollution they cause by putting dust back into the air.

ZeroGravitas 4y ago
The real problem with <fossil fuel powered thing> is actually <the thing that removing the fossil fuels doesn't affect> is a popular lie with no basis in fact. If something is burning fossil fuels then that's almost certainly the fix with the most bang-per-buck. Especially 2-stroke engines. Electrify everything. But yeah, protective equipment for workers is still required with electric blowers and air quality matters.
googlryas 4y ago
How does every leaf blower in the world compare with one gusty day?

rob74 4y ago

I would really wish other cities followed suit. And I propose to extend this to a ban on all devices with noisy and smelly two-stroke engines: chainsaws, lawn mowers, motor scooters etc. The scooters may not be a problem in Washington, but anyone who has ever been to an Italian or Spanish city can probably relate...

showerst 4y ago
I agree with the sentiment but pragmatically I think we have to time bans to when replacements are really equivalent or better-- electric mowers in particular are still 4x the cost and get mixed reviews, and I don't think chainsaw usage is a huge civic problem here in DC, but I don't live next to any big parks. Maybe we could also go with making new ones illegal to sell, though we'd have to coordinate with MD and VA which seems unlikely. Leaf blowers are a slam dunk, I don't know enough about scooters to comment intelligently.
- rob74 4y ago
  With scooters, of course you could argue that a two-stroke-engine scooter is still better than a car that emits more CO2 (and even more if it's stuck in traffic or searching for a parking spot in some European city center). But electric scooters are definitely competitive and noise-free - of course more expensive, but still affordable, at least for an average European income.
  - enragedcacti 4y ago
    2-strokes are actually pretty astoundingly awful for pollution and air quality. They emit so much that when running a leafblower and an F-150 Raptor the same amount of time, the leafblower will emit orders of magnitude more pollutants, save for CO2 specifically. pretty much any vehicle on the road is emitting less hydrocarbons per-mile than a two-stroke. Obviously CO2 is a problem for global warming, but I definitely don't think its worth the air pollution trade-offs of a two stroke in a crowded city, especially when 4-stroke alternatives exist and are better in almost every way. https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-car-vs-truck-vs-leaf-blower.html https://www.edmunds.com/car-reviews/features/emissions-test-...

hgazx 4y ago

bombcar 4y ago
It's actually correct - leaf blowers are one of the first things that the electrics caught up on, because all you need to do is spin a fan really, really fast. The problem with electric tools has always been the run-time, they've been functional but without recent battery technology, changing batteries every 10-15m was simply impractical.

xkcd-sucks 4y ago

> Electric ones are quieter, inexpensive, and work just as well nowadays. My building has an electric Milwaukee that was 200 bucks and lasts all afternoon on a battery or two Not really. I committed to the Milwaukee battery system and now have a leaf blower, a string trimmer, and a chainsaw, to maintain a few acres (nothing fancy just keeping it from being overrun with invasives). They all perform reasonably well in the instantaneous sense, but battery performance is a huge limiting factor. I get about 15-20 minutes of total runtime from everything at conservative speeds (turtle mode for the trimmer/blower, medium speed for the chainsaw). But the bigger issue is heat dissipation, if you actually run them for 5 minutes in a row the battery heats up, drains super quickly, and the thermal failsafe shuts it down. Then the battery takes quite a long time to cool off during which time it can't be charged. To run these things at full load you need a collection of like 10 batteries (very expensive even if using "compatible" knockoffs) and a second person managing the battery logistics. So, using these practically means running them in very short bursts with cooldown time in between, which is usually not conducive to efficient work patterns. For the chainsaw, instead of felling a tree, then limbing/bucking it, then moving the wood to its storage place, it's more like do one or two cuts, move the pieces to storage, repeat - And a helper can't speed things up by moving wood as I'm bucking it. That being said, I typically don't drop more than 1 tree at a time and it is nice to not have to stop and restart a gas chainsaw. The string trimmer is good for hitting small patches / edges separated by distance, but I actually bought another gas trimmer for mowing my rocky+stumpy hillside. The leaf blower is basically garbage I regret buying; I went back to using a rake and have used the blower maybe once or twice for blowing powdery snow off of things and accelerating fires, mostly just because the thing is in my garage. The one consistently good thing about them is it's possible to use them after dark without seeming like a total crackhead, which is nice I guess

kazinator 4y ago

> have to buy new leaf blowers and batteries Or, you know, leave the god forsaken leaves where they are instead of blowing them ten feet over? Most useless activity ever.