California could ban petrol power-powered Mowers by 2024
The US state of California could ban the sales of petrol-powered devices such as lawn equipment, generators and pressure washers.
As reported by Engadget, State governor Gavin Newsom, recently signed a law that orders regulators to ban the sale of small off-road engines. While the California Air Resources Board was already working by these rules, Newsom’s new law gives the agency deadlines for adopting and applying the latest regulations of 1st July 2022.
The new regulations also apply to engines made on or after 1st January 2024 and regulators must offer rebates to lower the cost of switching to greener equipment.
California has introduced this law to reduce emissions from harmful petrol-powered tools. The state had previously brought in emission standards for those types of engines in 1990. While emissions from cars have decreased in that time, that isn’t the case for small off-road engines.
According to state officials, a petrol-powered leaf blower that is used for one hour emits the same amount of pollution as a 2017 Toyota Camry that travels for 1,100 miles. Existing small off-road engines in California currently outnumber passenger cars in the state, with 16.7 million devices.
This isn’t the first initiative California has put forward to tackle emissions from petrol-powered engines. In 2020, the California Air Resources Board said all truck and van manufacturers should switch to electric versions by 2045. The state is also set to band sales of all new combustion engine cars and trucks by 2035. A law on zero emissions for light-duty autonomous vehicles will come into effect in 2030.
More cities need to take action against petrol-powered mowers
The action taken by the California state government is a welcome one in this fight to reduce the use of petrol-powered mowers. Los Angeles has already banned petrol-powered leaf blowers and Berlin followed suit, but these are only two major cities in the world. UK cities, London and Birmingham have clean air zones in place but still allow their parks and public spaces to be maintained by harmful tools.
Challenge 2025 is an initiative launched by EGO to show that petrol-powered mowers, leaf blowers and other garden tools are doing incredible damage to the planet by highlighting the issues and providing users with a choice to switch to battery.
Discover more about our work and take up the challenge today by downloading The Report here: https://www.challenge2025.eu/thereport/.