What the City of Lake Oswego Is Doing

Apr 19, 2024 | Success Stories

City of Lake Oswego Park and Recreation equipment and staff

Park and Recreation Department

Submitted by Jeff Munro, Deputy Director

The City of Lake Oswego has already taken important steps to eliminate gas-powered equipment from its contracted landscape services for 200 city-owned sites and has replaced much of the gas-powered equipment used by Parks and Public Works.

The Parks Department’s transition to electric tools aligns with our dedication to maintaining beautiful parks while being kind to our earth and environment. We have added all types of electric equipment including blowers, hedge trimmers, chainsaws, push mowers, riding mowers, utility vehicles, and a new Ford F-150 that can power up equipment in the field. Our Parks Multiple Site Landscape Contract also requires that the contractor that maintains some of our facilities & parks only use electric equipment to perform their maintenance tasks.

Our commitment to Sustainability is powering our parks with electric tools and vehicles that reduce emissions and minimize our carbon footprint. The Parks Department will continue to integrate this electric initiative into daily practice and continue to source new equipment and battery types along with continuing with the City Council’s goals on climate and sustainability practices with fleet policies.

Public Works Department

The Public Works Department has had an electric contract with STORM Landscape Services since 2021.

STORM Landscape Services is a commercial landscape company that has 6 crews that are all electric. In a recent interview, Randy Mihaldo shared details about his work with the City and his transition to electric landscaping equipment. Read the full story…

 

 

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Transitioning to Electric Landscaping Equipment: A Case Study with Mountain Park HOA

Apr 19, 2024 | Success Stories

Mountain Park HOA

Submitted by Tod Blankenship, Director of Landscape Stewardship

I personally have been researching and purchasing small battery equipment for over 10 years. When I was with the City of Wilsonville, I began spearheading a transition to Stihl battery-powered small equipment. Stihl has long been a champion of landscape equipment. When it comes to committing to battery-powered equipment there are many factors to be considered beyond the craftsmanship and reliability of the tool itself. It is also a commitment to batteries and chargers. Stihl has been at the forefront of battery technology, and it was an easy decision for us.

Mountain Park HOA (MPHOA) Landscape Stewardship Division has purchased nearly all of the Stihl commercial battery-powered tools available. When it comes to the replacement of any light equipment we will purchase a battery option if available. We have found most of the items suit our needs as long as we have plenty of extra batteries. The disappointment has been the limited backpack blower options.  A new Stihl electric backpack blower is now available and we plan on buying 5 additional blowers this year.  We have also purchased (2) Westward electric low-speed vehicles for use on the road and throughout our 9 miles of trails.   ​
Pruning a hedge

Why We Made the Switch

Apr 18, 2021 | Electric Landscaping Equipment, Success Stories

Testimonial from Jeff & Kathleen Wiens

For years it was frustrating trying to start our gas lawnmower and edger. Having to mix oil and gasoline, trying to find a funnel to fill it was always a hassle. The cloud of smoke and fumes made the process even more unpleasant. It was frustrating having to wipe the spilled gasoline off of our hands and ground. 

In 2015 we decided to go all electric/battery for our landscaping equipment. We purchased a Black and Decker hedge trimmer and a Kobalt lawn mower at Lowe’s for a reasonable price. This equipment performs great and after 6 years they have held up well. We also like to use a rake and broom. 

A few months ago we purchased an Ego electric chainsaw and a more powerful hedge trimmer from Ace Hardware. The batteries are interchangeable and long lasting. We purchased an Ego inverter after our recent power outage to be able to use these Ego batteries to run our refrigerator, TV, power lights, and charge our cell phones. Since we have several batteries, this could help get us through a power outage without the need to run a noisy and polluting generator.

What we like about electric landscaping equipment is when the battery is connected, it starts every time without any nauseous fumes and it’s quieter than gas equipment. We have found that that the cost of residential electric landscaping equipment is comparable or less than the gas equipment. A trip down the aisles at Home Depot or Lowe’s will verify this.

The noise level of gas equipment and the toxicity of the fumes are enough to warrant a change to electric. If homeowners don’t want to do their own landscaping, how about purchasing electric equipment to give to their landscapers. Another idea is to ask your landscaper to look into having an electric option. This would make it healthier for the workers, residents, neighbors and the environment. The switch to electric equipment helps to lower the carbon footprint created from gasoline powered landscaping equipment.

 

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Pruning a hedge

Works Great While Providing Surprising Resilience

Apr 18, 2021 | Success Stories

Submitted by Michael Earp

We have a large lot in the First Addition of Lake Oswego and although we have reduced the lawn size it is still a lot to mow. Over the years I have routinely used electric lawn equipment. At first cords were standard, which increased the time it took and were a hassle with messing with the cord. I can remember cutting the cord with the mower, too.

I upgraded to a cordless mower when they became available. The first cordless mowers cut down on the time spent mowing but they used lead acid battery which made the lawn mower heavier and the battery had to to be recharged half way through mowing my big lawn.

Today’s electric mowers are very light and have a long runtime with a powerful Lithium battery. It is so quiet and easy to push and can do the entire lot with no problem. There are a number of new Lithium battery powered mowers available. We use a Ryobi 20 inch 40 Volt cordless mower which comes battery charger included ($299 at Home Depot).

Ryobi makes a number of attachments and that the same battery can be used on. I have a few of them including: edger, blower (quiet), portable drill, vacuum, radio and inverter.

During the last ice storm I used the 40 Volt Lithium battery from my mower with the inverter to power my house TV for three hours on a charge. And I could have powered the refrigerator.

Once you use one of these new Lithium powered mowers you will never want to deal with a gas mower again. Skip the hassle with gas tuneups along with the noise and pollution. Your neighbors will appreciate it, too!

 

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electric lawn mower