Heritage Museums & Gardens goes green! Over the past year, we've looked at all aspects of our business in order to become more sustainable. One aspect of our business that is high on our list is gardening. I've always known that gas-powered floor care equipment isn't subject to the same pollution regulations as automobiles, but I didn't know how bad such equipment really is for the environment.
According to the Air Resources Board of the US state of California, a gas-powered leaf blower causes as much air pollution in an hour as driving an average car 1,000 miles. A lawnmower that works for an hour pollutes as much as the same car that drives 300 miles. To compound the problems with air pollution, the same devices are noisy and expensive to maintain. When trying to provide a beautiful garden for the public to enjoy, the noise of a leaf blower can destroy the ambience pretty quickly.
Maintaining the 100 acre garden, approximately 65 acres of which are open to the public, requires a lot of equipment and personnel to operate. Last year we looked into whether it was possible to switch to fully battery-powered floor care equipment. Two facts, air and noise pollution, and the desire to be a community leader in terms of sustainability, led us to the decision to invest in all battery-powered devices. This spring, we did just that, purchasing battery-powered push mowers, string cutters, and leaf blowers. We even bought a battery powered chainsaw as a trial.
Now our push mowers and blowers are all battery operated and much quieter, as are our thread cutters. The only aspect of our job that was left was mowing large areas of lawn. We decided to do a test this season and invest in another new technology, automated lawn mowers. These have been used in Europe since the mid-1990s and are making their way to the USA. They are almost noiseless, use significantly less energy than gasoline-powered mowers and the lawn is always perfect. You mow the lawn all the time, not just once (or twice) a week. Automated mowers work similarly to self-automated vacuum cleaners. They wander around mowing the grass non-stop. They are monitored by an app on the phone and are pretty safe for the public and animals. They can be programmed to mow after work and not be seen when we are open to the public. And in case you're wondering, they have multiple levels of security that make theft more difficult. We thought about it, as did the developers. These mowers are commercially available and can cut up to 1.25 acres per mower. We're also moving towards solar powered automated mowers that won't use fossil fuels to run, although that will likely be a few years later.
I have been using a battery operated mower at home for several years and I am very confident that it is reliable. Now Heritage Museums & Gardens is moving towards a more sustainable operation. Come and see for yourself.
Les Lutz is Director of Horticulture and Facility Management at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich.
Les Lutz is Director of Horticulture and Facility Management at Heritage Museums & Gardens in Sandwich.