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Joby said: "That graphic is lame. Why is there the total million tons of carbon AND the state ranking? They're the same thing. Why is the per capita carbon ..." [read]

JimS said: "That bar labeled 'per capita carbon output' is almost certainly incorrect. It looks more like perhaps a number from 1 to 50 of the order. It doesn'..." [read]

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Bill Young said: "Go Vermont Yankee Nuclear Power Plant! Vermont has NO utility operated fossil fuel electrical generation plants...." [read]

spaetzel said: "Wyoming gets its ranking in part because of all the coal power plants generating power for the rest of the country...." [read]

My Other Vehicle Is...A Solar Robot Mower

by April Streeter, Gothenburg, Sweden on 03. 7.08
Science & Technology (solar)

Solar-Hybrid-Mower.jpgA meadow might be preferable to a maintenance-requiring lawn, and a front-yard food garden would be even better. But if the lawn is there to stay, Swedish Husqvarna's new robot mower combines a battery-powered (NiMH) no-hands mowing system with solar booster panels that help the mower extends its charge time. If you buy green electricity, you've got pretty low-emissions' mowing. The Automower Solar Hybrid's charge lasts about an hour in sunny weather, less under clouds - the machine senses when its charge is low and automatically rolls back to the charging station.

TreeHugger supports technologies which might convince the mow-happy to trade in their two-stroke and gas-powered tractor mowers. Automower Solar Hybrid uses bumper wire cables to help define a lawn section of up to 20,000 square feet (it mows around 900 square feet per hour or charge). Husqvarna says Automower handles slopes of up to 35%. The solar hybrid model is supposed to use the same amount of energy as a 40 watt light bulb (incandescent, unfortunately) and be 90 percent recyclable. Pretty pricey at around US$4,000. Via ::Automower.com

See also Product Review: Enviromower (Solar Lawn Mowing)

Comments (17)

The old leg-driven rotary mower remains the truly green option... but better yet, let your lawn go to meadow and just cut it back once or twice a season.

Top of the line RoboMow is about $2500 on Amazon.com. I wonder what this one does so much better? And I thought you could get them from under a thousand a year or two ago. Seems the prices are going up with demand.

jump to top GNiessen [TypeKey Profile Page] says:

goats

jump to top Anonymous says:

I don't care if it's solar. It's unnecessary, it's wasteful, it's disgusting. Why is it on Treehugger?

jump to top Ross says:

"I don't care if it's solar. It's unnecessary, it's wasteful, it's disgusting. Why is it on Treehugger?"

It's this kind of polarized arguments that make a "us versus them mentality" and do more harm than good.

Push reel mowers are great for small yards, but not everyone has small yard.

It might be wasteful, but far less wasteful than a gas mower!

jump to top JC says:

How can you say this is wasteful? it uses less energy than a 40w light bulb ($20 a year if its on 24 hours aday) , it cuts the same area as you would on a ride on lawn mower that would cost you the same amount of money and you install it and leave it to cut, once its in you dont have to do anything? And most of all the quality of cut is far better than any of the other options in your shed? Without doing anything! There are greener options! You must be some sort of Jackass!

jump to top james says:

I like the "incandescent unfortunately" comment. As if a 40 watt CFL/refrigerator/hairdryer/ uses less power.

jump to top Dallas says:

This is great technology and Husqvarna has always made a quality product, except for the gas factor of course. I bought one out of skymall mag. at around 400 dollars(for my elderly moms yard)and it worked real well. T
http://www.smallbusinessonlinecollege.org

Reel push mowers are designed for yards less than 5,000 sq ft. For yards between 5,000 and 20,000 there is this alternative which mainly competes against gas powered push mowers. Which is more green? There are robot mowers designed for even larger yards as well, upwards of 2+ acres for some robot mowers. Anything over half an acre usually gets mowed by a riding lawn mower, or has a lawn care service that comes to do the job. These are both very large polluters in America, and for each yard we can reduce CO2 emissions in, the world will be that much better. 10-20 dollars a year in electricity vs 10-20 dollars a week in gas. Take your pick.

jump to top Robot Mower says:

This does not look like it could tackle the hills in my family's yard. Maybe if we had a piece of land without hills or trees then maybe

jump to top anon says:

A lower cost alternative are non-solar robot mowers. Lawnbott prices are from $1,749 - $3,249. 30 degree hills, multiple trees and 2 acre lots aren't an issue for the top of the line LawnBott. The technology has greatly improved over the years.

Robotic lawn mowers are greener than gas mowers. If you have 1/2 acre or larger - with or without trees and hills, you should take a serious look at robotic options.

If your lawn is smaller than 6000 sq ft, stick to the reel mower.

jump to top LawnBott says:

gas mowers are actually one of the most polluting devices on the market

"Testing found that operating a typical gasoline mower with a four-cycle engine produced as much PAH as driving a modern car about 150 km or about 95 miles. (Note 1). This means that unless you drive more than 95 mph, your mower actually produces more pollution per hour than your car!
Another source claims that operating a gas mower for one hour will produce the same pollution as driving a car 1300 miles."

jump to top Goat Mowing says:

Robot mowers are ecologically friendly. I was so impressed with mine I started selling them.
As time goes on they will improve and ecome even more Green.

jump to top LawnBott says:

I like the solar mower concept. The price needs to come down, other than that, how can you beat it? We have 30 degree hills and run the Lawnbott. I like that our lawn is always mowed. Not to mention the time savings...

Just a thought about how 'green' people-powered mowers are... A hot summer day, and a man pushing his rotary mower about to cut the lawn in an eco-friendly way is going to result in... that's right, cold beverages from the fridge to cool himself down, possibly the air con inside on a little cooler for the same reason, and no doubt a shower afterwards. An automatic mower using hardly any electricity, however, means he can stay in the shade and chill! No need to waste shower water or the electricity to heat it!

Of course a meadow would be more ece-friendly, but how many meadows do you see in suburbia? On the other hand, if, like me, you don't put any kinds of products on your lawn, all you do is mow it (and maybe water it from your own well), and someone points out a way to do that without using much electricity or other fuel, can that be a bad thing?

jump to top Steve says:

The guys talking about the Lawnbott's are right. I have hills and trees in my 1/2 acre yard and I haven't mowed for 2 years. The bot does it all. I probably haven't used a gallon of gas in the last two years to maintain my lawn.

jump to top Mowbot says:

We haven't mowed in over 4 years. We gave our gas mower away within months of owning our first robotic lawn mower. Robotic lawn mowers are truly the modern day solution for mowing lawns.

Here's an in-depth review of the LawnBott LB3500 www.lawnbottreview.com

Much of the info applies to all robotic mowers.

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