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New Emissions Standards for Lawn and Garden Equipment

Posted on: Sunday, 7 September 2008, 13:15 CDT

Under strict new U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules intended to reduce pollution and conserve gasoline, many exhaust-belching lawn mowers and speedboats will be going green over the next few years.

Americans spend more than 3 billion hours tending gardens and more than 500 million hours in recreational boating each year, according to the agency’s estimates.

"With much of the East wheezing under Code Orange alerts, these standards couldn't come too soon,"  Frank O'Donnell, president of the nonprofit organization Clean Air Watch, told Reuters.

The new EPA rules, which require a 35 percent emissions reduction for gas-powered  lawn and garden equipment, will take effect in 2010 for marine engines, including inboard and outboard engines, and in 2011 for lawn and garden equipment with horsepower of 25 or less, such as weedwackers and lawn mowers.  Personal watercraft engines will be required to reduce smog-forming emissions by 70 percent and reduce carbon monoxide emissions by 20 percent.

According to EPA estimates, the new standards will result in annual emission reductions of 600,000 tons of hydrocarbons, 130,000 tons of nitrogen oxide and 1.5 million tons of carbon monoxide, in addition to the 190 million gallons of gasoline that consumers will save each year. 

"These standards help fight smog in our neighborhoods and waterways as we continue to improve the environmental landscape," said EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson.

The new rules are the agency’s latest move to cut emissions from non-road sources, and follows previously updated standards for recreational vehicles, locomotives, farm and construction equipment and commercial marine craft. The EPA said that manufacturers will likely turn to catalytic converters to comply with the new standards.

"When fully implemented, this rule will be the air pollution equivalent of removing one out of every five cars and trucks on the road,"  Bill Becker, executive director of the National Association of Clean Air Agencies, told Reuters.

The EPA believes that along with reducing air pollution, the new rules will help prevent 300 premature deaths and 1700 hospitalizations.

Source: redOrbit staff and wire reports

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