We’re beginning to wrap up our tenth year, and I must say, I truly did not believe that it would last this long.
When I started Solar Mowing in 2009, I figured that bigger companies would soon invest in battery-powered equipment and renewable energy. I figured customers would demand it. I figured I’d get mowed over in five years, tops.
Wow, was I wrong. Nearly all mowing and landscape companies in the DC metro area and elsewhere still use dirty and deafening equipment.
Thanks to our customers (several of whom have been with me for the entire 10 years!), we’re proud of what we’ve prevented: 50 tons of CO2 from going airborne.*
If everyone in the U.S. mowed their grass with renewables, our country’s CO2 output would diminish by 5%. And hey, 5% is 5%. It’d actually be amazing!!
If you think, what’s the use, everyone on Earth is polluting, what possible difference will I make by flying less, putting solar panels on my roof, or using emission-free mowing equipment? As Americans, we are already way ahead on the polluting scale. On average, today and every day, we burn twice as much fossil fuel as the typical person in Europe or in Japan.
That’s embarrassing. And immoral.
I hope that big landscape companies invest in renewable energy and battery-powered equipment. Customers should demand it. But until those companies clean up their act — and perhaps even after — we’ll be here doing our part. We hope you will, too.
* The average homeowner burns five gallons of gasoline each year to mow and trim the lawn. And each burned gallon emits 19.6 pounds of CO2. Over ten years, our customers have NOT burned 5,100 gallons of gas and NOT emitted 99,960 pounds, or 49.98 tons, of CO2.