The Greenstation experiments with the use of fixed and portable off grid solar designs to charge the batteries that power the cordless electric lawnmowers, leaf blowers, hedge and string trimmers that are used to maintain properties.
The Fuel Matrix
The Greenstation research goes where no research has gone before.
For the past three years, The Greenstation has tracked the amount of gasoline, two stroke and four stroke oil consumed by ten independent Los Angeles gardeners on their routes.
Unfortunately, many of these gardeners operate without a business license, use antiquated second hand equipment, and are under insured.
The Greenstation field research team has been able to gain the trust of the under-the-radar gardening community and obtain some accruate statistics regarding fuel and oil consumption.
The Greenstation is currently collecting data from these gardeners regarding pesticide, herbicide, and chemical fertilizer use. As we complete our research we will update our findings.
Fuel Matrix Fuel Consumption Stats:
Ten Los Angeles gardeners.
Each gardener services 65 to 80 homes per week.
We were able to determine the average number of gallons of gasoline used by each gardener for each piece of equipment on their truck.
Note: This does not include the amount of gas the gardeners use for their work trucks to transport themselves and equipment to their job sites.
Here is what we found:
Lawn mower:
Weekly 3 to 5 gallons
Monthly 12 to 20
Annually 144 to 240
String trimmer 2-stroke:
Weekly 1.5 to 2 gallons
Monthly 6 to 8
Annually 72 to 96
Blower 2 & 4-stroke:
Weekly 3 to 5 gallons
Monthly 12 to 20
Annually 144 to 240
Hedge Trimmer 2-stroke:
Weekly .5 to 1 gallons
Monthly 2 to 4
Annually 24 to 48
Let's do the math.
We added only the low end totals of gasoline use for each gardener.
Weekly 8 gallons
Monthly 32 gallons
Annually 384 gallons
The Greenstation estimates that there are 20,000 to 25,000 independent gardeners operating in Los Angeles county.
Each gardener averaging 384 gallons annually, the gasoline consumption for 20,000 gardeners is staggering.
384 x 20,000 = 7,680,000
The cost: 7,680,000 x $3.50 per gallon = $26,880,000.00
Take in to account the amount of air pollution created when burning gasoline with lawn equipment that has lower emission standards than automobiles.
Laboratory & field research
Meet The Greenstation research team:
Bill & Denise Smith
Jeff Keenan
Dan Mabe
Bryan Logan