Snowblowers are great after big storm but continue to be environmental headache

[Barefootsies]

Snowblowers are great after big storm but continue to be environmental headache

GENESEE COUNTY -- The hills are alive with the sound of snowblowers, after a winter storm dumped nearly a foot of the cold, wet stuff across the area over New Year's Eve and the following day.

But it's not just their sound that's filling the air:

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the typical two-cycle snowblower can expel nearly a pound of carbon monoxide for every hour it runs.

You'd have to drive your car about 70 miles to match that, according to the Mother Earth News.

"Not just snowblowers but all kinds of small engines used around the home and lawn can be significant sources of air pollution," said EPA spokesperson Phillippa Cannon.

"Combined, they account for 25 percent of mobile source hydrocarbon emissions and 30 percent of all mobile source carbon monoxide emissions."

In plain English, that means a quarter of all greenhouse gases and nearly a third of all carbon monoxide gas emitted by motorized vehicles and machines.

But even most shovellers admit that's got little to do with their choices in how to move snow.

"To be honest, I wasn't thinking about that. I just kept thinking what a great workout this is," said Sierra Club activist Sherry Hayden, who took three hours to shovel out her 60-foot Flint driveway by hand on Tuesday. "If I was older, I'd probably use a snowblower."

It's also about economics and simplicity for Hayden.

"(My husband) Mike's got to have this high-tech thing with a metal edge and all ergonomic. It looks real pretty but he always seems to disappear just when the snow's getting deep enough to shovel," joked Hayden, laughing.

"I have a plastic orange shovel I found on the side of road when we were out junk-picking on one of our first dates 11 years ago. That's good enough for me."

Dennis Schwertner tackles his Flushing Township driveway with a hand shovel, too -- but he does it for the exercise, not to save the planet.

"My wife always worries about me shovelling because she wants me around a long time. I tell her that's why I shovel," said Schwertner, 55, a GM retiree. "The snowblowers probably started up about 10 a.m. but us shovellers were out an hour or or two before them."

Schwertner said his technique is to pace himself.

"I don't do it all in one shot. I'll shovel a third, take a break, shovel another third. It's probably about 2 and a half hours to do it right."

Next door, fellow GM retiree Jim Pelikan started up his big four-cycle two-stage snow blower when Schwertner was three quarters finished - and they still finished up at about the same time.

"He starts earlier than I do. I like to wait til the snow is all done before I get out there so I just have to do it one time," said Pelikan. "It took me a little over an hour, including a little bit in front of the mailbox so the mail truck can get through."

Want to be greener without breaking your back over a shovel? Four-stroke engines cost more but emit a tenth the pollutants, according to the EPA.

"The difference is four-cycle engines keep the gas and oil separate. In a two-cycle, you're always burning oil in the motor because it gets mixed with the gas and combusted," said Eric Petzold of Tri-County Equipment Sales in Burton.

"That's why I never bought a two-cycle. I've had a snowmobile so I knew how dirty they were and I wanted nothing to do with a two-cycle snowblower," said Pelikan.

Snowblower manufacturers like Honda have ongoing environmental initiatives to reduce emissions and improve fuel efficiency.

"We only offer four-stroke engines. We've always felt they were the right way to go in terms of efficiency and they're much more emission-friendly," said Honda spokesperson Sara Pines.

Honda's biggest breakthrough is a hybrid snowblower which operates on both gas and electric motors, similar to a hybrid car. The latest Honda hybrid model, introduced in Japan in 2005, offers 22 percent more fuel efficiency than comparable units, and produces 30 percent less emissions than EPA regulatory standards in 2005.

The bad news: it's only available in Japan.

"We've been researching to see if consumers here would be interested in a product like that but we're still in the discovery phase," said Pines.

Meanwhile, Pelikan said he's not too worried about the environmental impact. It's all about context, he said.

"To say it adds to pollution, sure, but it's not like a car you drive every day. The amount of snow we normally get, a lot of winters I don't even get it out," said Pelikan, who uses a snowblower due to health issues.

"They'd be twice as heavy and expensive if you put on all the things it'd take to lessen the environmental impact. By the time you add all these fancy plastic parts made from petroleum and filters with rare earth metals, the net result is less than zero."

http://www.mlive.com/flintjournal/in..._after_bi.html

[CDSmith]

I use one of these for the big snows




Best thing for snow ever invented.



Btw, what do you call a gay Eskimo?




- snowblower.

[Barefootsies]

I am going to have to go out and get one tomorrow. Snow blower that is. Not gay eskimo's, or drunk Smittys.

I normally do not go out during the day, it's typically evenings and night in the winter. I am either sleeping, working, playing video games, working out, or doing photo shoots during the day light hours (in the summer, much more active).

Anyways, tonight, about an hour or so ago, I go to leave and see my road had been plowed. Nice. But at the end of the drive way was a huge ass snow pile. I thought, "Hm, I have a running start, I bet my Escape can clear it".

Wrong.

So I was stuck on top of the fucking thing. Had to dig myself out. That snow pile had been wet and froze. So I had to chip that shit away until I could shovel it out. Called tow truck, but ended up getting out before they came.

In the morning, I'll call a snow plow. Then go out looking for a snow blower.

[MetaMan]

i like to take the simple approach, (shot last night)

[Barefootsies]

Originally Posted by MetaMan

i like to take the simple approach, (shot last night)

Now THAT is what I'm talking about playa! I can only imagine the faces of horror on the parents and neighbors around here. That would be priceless.