Just in time for leaf-blowing season, Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed off on an electric-landscaping rebate program, which allows for point-of-sale rebates to institutional or commercial applicants purchasing eligible lawn care devices, including mowers, hedge trimmers, and, yes, leaf blowers.
Even though the law has been signed, however, details of how it will work are as yet murky, at best. The Star asked the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority about it.
The law itself says “point of sale” on a “first-come-first-served basis” until all the funds are expended, though it’s not clear how much has been appropriated for the program. Also, should an application for a rebate come after the purchase, or, as the law seems to say, is the money rebated at the register {“point of sale”)?
“The legislation signed into law by Governor Hochul at the end of September, calls for the creation of a rebate program for commercial and institutional landscapers, such as those for a university or municipality, who voluntarily purchase electric lawnmowers and other landscaping equipment,” said a spokesperson for NYSERDA in an email. “NYSERDA is in the process of assessing the market and considering program design options. Transitioning to electric landscaping equipment will lower emissions, improve air quality, and reduce noise pollution, and they are less vulnerable to fluctuations in gasoline prices.”
“I will never stop fighting to clean up the air we breathe,” the governor said in a press release. “The rebate legislation I signed will encourage the purchase of cleaner and quieter battery-powered lawn mowers and other landscaping equipment that will benefit us all.”
The program is open to commercial landscapers, but also to school districts, governments, and nonprofit organizations.
Patrick Derenze, East Hampton Town’s public information officer, said that “roughly half” of the town’s maintenance equipment is now battery-powered, or electric. He did not answer further questions about the town’s experience using the equipment.
“I am in complete support of this legislation,” said State Assemblyman Tommy John Schiavoni in a phone call Monday. “I believe there is a role for the state to incentivize good practices in the landscaping industry. Gas mowers and blowers run by two-stroke engines, that generally burn a mixture of gasoline and oil that isn’t filtered before it’s expelled into the atmosphere. It’s my hope that the landscaping industry will embrace the new technology.”
This spring at East Hampton Town Hall, at a ChangeHampton demonstration featuring electric landscaping equipment (a petition circulated by the advocacy group calling for a year-round ban on gas-powered leaf blowers has garnered nearly 500 signatures), Nelson Munoz, an educator with the Electric Switch Group, admitted that start-up costs to go electric can be scary. Commercial-grade blowers, for example, can run four to five times their gasoline-powered counterparts.
That doesn’t tell the full story, though. Maintenance and long-term costs are lower. Operating a gas blower costs $5 per hour, while an electric blower runs between 11 and 17 cents per hour.
Meanwhile, more villages and towns are banning gasoline-powered landscaping equipment for at least part of the year. That means landscapers need to be educated about the rules from one municipality to the next, which doesn’t always happen — opening them up, or their clients, to fines.
Connecticut was considering a statewide ban on gas-powered leaf blowers, but that idea has been tabled for now and, like New York, it is now moving toward an incentive program.
For over two years, Southampton Village has had a year-round ban on gas-powered blowers, the only municipality on the East End with a full ban. Bill Manger, the village mayor, did not respond to an email asking about how the ban had been received (or if his small village had collapsed under the weight of piles and piles of leaves).
In East Hampton Town, gas-powered blowers are prohibited from May 20 to Sept. 20. East Hampton Village is more friendly to gasoline. There are no prohibitions listed except between May 15 and Sept. 15, when gas blowers are allowed between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and between noon and 4 p.m. on Saturday. They’re only fully prohibited on Sundays and federal holidays.
Dave Collins, the village’s superintendent of public works, says that so-called “mowbots” — silent, automated, robot lawnmowers — “have been great. The service provider, Greener, has been great too.” He is hoping to add one at Paul Rickenbach Park (the green space abutting Accabonac and Pantigo Roads), and another at the Gardiner Mill Cottage.
He reports that small chain saws and pole pruners work well, but that he has “not had any luck” with blowers. “We can only get 15 to 20 minutes out of them on a low setting,” he said. “Guys carry two extra batteries just to do a lap around the business district.”
That seems to be the common sentiment around current blower technology. Juan Roldan, who owns Majestic Gardens Service Corp., says incentives won’t work on their own if the equipment isn’t up to the task. The Star caught up with two other landscapers on Tuesday afternoon; both, amazingly, holding rakes, who offered comments mirroring Mr. Roldan’s.
“People prefer for us to finish their properties as quickly as possible,” Mr. Roldan said. “Whatever is faster and more powerful, people prefer. The electric blowers are halfway as powerful as gas. The reality is, when leaves are wet or piled up, electric blowers don’t handle well. If we are working a property with four or five acres, the batteries don’t last.”
Stihl, he said, offers a gas-powered blower that is half as loud as blowers used to be. It’s his favorite.
