There is a bill in the Minnesota House: HF 1715 authored by Rep. Jerry Newton, DFL-Coon Rapids, and Rep. Heather Edelson, DFL-Edina, would require all new lawn and garden equipment sold in the state to be fully electric by Jan. 1, 2025, including leaf blowers, chainsaws, brush cutters, lawn edgers and more.
I have a gas mower. I have seen the newest battery-operated electric mowers and am looking forward to buying one when my mower dies. The old electric mowers were pretty bad. They had cords which made them hard to use.
The newer electric lawnmowers have batteries that are fairly small. They make a low less noise than gas mowers and they don’t need gas. They start with the push of a button. Upper body strength is not required. There is no carburetor to get all gummed up. I would rather not have a grass lawn at all.
I can only imagine the kerfuffle, and the pearl-clutching it would cause if gas mowers were no longer sold in Minnesota.
Some folks are really upset over the idea of gas stoves instead of electric. At this point, I am replacing gas appliances with electric. Yes, I love cooking on my gas stove but I am willing to give it up for cleaner air and for energy efficiency and maybe even save a buck or two on the utility bills. I like the idea of an on-demand electric water heater too.
They take up less space and there isn’t a big tank with water that can leak or rupture. They don’t have pilot lights and there is no danger of a gas leak.
I do think that anyone who wants one should be able to have a gas stove in their home. Stoves are indoors and they are not noisy like a lawn mower.
