Ummm, I love the smell of those two stroke engines. It reminds me of going fishing with my uncle when I was a kid.

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Your uncle smelled like a two-stroke? Hmmm, sounds like a serious personal hygiene problem.

Woodstoves in Arizona municipal areas (yes, it does get "cold" here and we do use them) are required to be equipped with a catalytic device. Lawn mowers aren't that big of a deal (go figure) but those damned blowers and weed-eaters are everywhere.

It generally takes me 10 strokes,about 6 if I do it with vaseline.....

__________________

You must be using something other than an Evinrude . . . .

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Sorry about the science folks.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2001/05/010529234907.htm

One Hour Of Grass Cutting Equals 100 Miles Worth Of Auto Pollution

ScienceDaily (June 1, 2001) — The air pollution from cutting grass for an hour with a gasoline-powered lawn mower is about the same as that from a 100-mile automobile ride, according to a new study from Sweden, which recommends using catalytic converters on mowers. The report is the first to compare lawn mower pollution with auto mileage, according to the researchers.

The recommendation is reported in the June 1 issue of Environmental Science & Technology, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Society, the world's largest scientific society.

One significant pollutant from mowers is polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, said Roger Westerholm, Ph.D., an assistant professor at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden. He claims such emissions, similar for both riding and push mowers, can be cut more than 80 percent using a catalytic converter like those used in automobiles.

Westerholm found that the worst case of lawn mower PAH emissions totaled more than 4,000 micrograms per hour using unleaded fuel without a catalytic converter. Average emissions dropped to nearly 800 micrograms over the same time period with the addition of a catalytic converter, he said. Some PAHs, including a few in lawn mower emissions, are classified as probable carcinogens by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Obviously, if catalysts will become mandatory on lawn mower engines, and possibly other small engines as well, a significant reduction of exhaust components will be achieved," Westerholm said.

In 1998, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the so-called "Phase I" rules, which mandated a 32 percent reduction in emissions for small "non-road" engines. This affects all engines less than 25 horsepower produced after 1997, including mowers, leaf blowers and chain saws. According to an EPA study prior to the Clean Air Act of 1990, small engines from lawn and garden equipment make up nearly 9 percent of some types of air pollution. While current mowers meet the reduced emissions standards, catalytic converters would lower emissions levels further, Westerholm said.

In the Swedish testing, the researchers used regular unleaded fuel in a typical four-stroke, four horsepower lawn mower engine and found, after one hour, that the PAH emissions are similar to a modern gasoline-powered car driving approximately 150 kilometers (93 miles). A typical push-type lawn mower is run for an average of 25 hours per year, according to the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. A higher-octane fuel known as alkylate also was tested and resulted in lower emissions. Alkylate is difficult to find in the United States and significantly more expensive than regular unleaded fuel in Europe.

Catalytic converters are already available on some European mowers, Westerholm reported. The pollution-control devices have been required on U.S. made cars since the late 1970s.

"Using a catalyst would help prevent most emissions from small engines," he said. "Of course, people could also use an electrical-powered lawn mower instead."

The research cited above was funded by the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency.

Roger Westerholm, Ph.D., is an assistant professor in the department of analytical chemistry at Stockholm University in Stockholm, Sweden.

On the fishing boat I was considered a Master................well,you know.

__________________

Maybe I'll just get some sheep to keep the grass down . . . .

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Good idea. Sheep, instead of using, produce gas.

Changes in law are great moneymaking opportunities. Not so exciting if you're on the other end of the stick. F**king donuts are $0.85 now because some city inspector has to inspect the ansul system so he can tell the operator that he'll come back to check it again to make sure he's moved the fryer to the proper position, and charge him $60, twice.

It's not taxation that's killing us, it's legislation, although I actually agree on the whole lawnmower thing. I use a reel mower myself on my lawn.

__________________
You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows - Robert A. Zimmerman

I can hardly contain myself -- this is one of my favorite diatribes concerning American home landscaping -- it's freaking stupid!

It is based on observations by Frederick Law Olmstead (a 19th century landscape architect) of the English manor house and grounds of the nobility. He liked the open vistas and short grass. That landscape was produced by overgrazing cattle and sheep on the estate. He brought that design principle to the USA and sold it to Vanderbilts, etc, who suffered from too much money and not enough nobility of spirit -- they had aristocracy-envy. So they built manor houses of their own and became the royal Wannabees. The upper class in the USA were enviously minor wannabees of the royal Wannabees so they built mini-manors on mini-grounds, becoming mini-wannabees. The middleclass, not to be outdone, decided that they too should have closely cropped lawns and wannabee Georgian manors. So they built minimansions and put strips of carpet-like lawn around the minimansions.

Which brings us to today. We have built ourselves into high maintenance houses and grounds in which we are now the serfs of our own minimanors. We employ gawd-awful mechanical sheep to subdue the lawn that we fertilize in order to produce lush rapid growth of vegetation that is not consumed. Nor does it produce habitat for nature's creatures. It's a green desert.

Grow some trees. Get a ewe.

B

Yep.

At this point I'd support a 10 year ban on any new legislation but I'm betting the EPA ruling didn't require any new legislation.

The real power in Washington is held by the bureaucracy - they get to interpret the enabling legislation and issue the orders.

The real result of this nonsense is that people will just keep using their old lawnmowers for the next couple of decades.

__________________
98 Dodge-Cummins pickup (137K)
13 GLK250 (157k)
06 E320CDI (341K)
16 C300 (89K)
82 300GD Gelaendewagen (54K)

Small, inefficient gas engines produce significantly more emissions per hour than the typical automobile engine. The emissions we're talking about are unburned hydrocarbons and CO.

It's agreed that the total carbon output of the small engine must be directly related to its fuel consumption.

I was going to do this already.

Screw ewe . . . .

__________________
" We have nothing to fear but the main stream media itself . . . ."- Adapted from Franklin D Roosevelt for the 21st century

OBK #55

1998 Lincoln Continental - Sold
Max 1984 300TD 285,000 miles - Sold
The Dee8gonator 1987 560SEC 196,000 miles - Sold
Orgasmatron - 2006 CLS500 90,000 miles
2002 C320 Wagon 122,000 miles
2016 AMG GTS 12,000 miles

Lemme get mah rubbah boots.

I love the electric lawn mower idea. Around here that would make it a coal powered lawnmower. Electricity in these parts is made from burning coal. And that coal is hauled by lazy railroaders who work for a large corporation.