Electrification: A Trip to Lowe’s

Electrification is simply the process of converting a device or system to run on electricity instead of a different source of energy like oil, gas or coal. Electrification is a critical component of America’s energy future with numerous benefits like cleaner air, lower energy costs and better health.

A perfect example of electrification comes when looking at leaf blowers. Traditionally, leaf blowers run on a mixture of gas and oil, which is burned in a small engine to generate a powerful thrust of air. Unfortunately, gas-powered leaf blowers come with numerous downsides. First and foremost, gas leaf blowers are terrible emitters. When tested, a common gas leaf blower emitted as many hydrocarbons in just 30 minutes as would be produced by driving a Ford F-150 truck from Texas to Alaska!

This is bad not only for the planet, but also for the health of individuals and families nearby. Additionally, the operation of a gas-powered leaf blower is fraught with potential issues: mixing the gas and oil is prone for costly mistakes, spilling fuel is common and certain engines can cause hearing damage for the user.

Electric leaf blowers reduce and sometimes outright eliminate these issues. Leaf blowers powered by electricity produce no direct emissions aside from noise, and even there, they are frequently quieter than their gas counterparts. And instead of being reliant on a specific mixture of hand poured gas and oil, electric leaf blowers are powered in one of two simple ways: through a plugged-in electric cord (“corded”) or a tool-attached battery that is charged before use (“cordless”).

To check out what electric leaf blowers were available locally, I recently took a trip to the Lowe’s on Ogletown Rd in Newark, Delaware. I took these photos of two electric blowers, one corded and one cordless, that caught my eye (out of over a dozen options). Both were relatively inexpensive and produced some serious airflow (450+ cubic feet of air per minute), with the only major difference being the cost, due to the corded version (left) not requiring the included battery and charger of the cordless model (right).

This particular Lowe’s also offered up electric versions of other common lawn care tools, like lawn mowers and string trimmers. Given the many benefits of these electric outdoor tools, Powering Our Future offers households within our current service area who purchase one a $100 rebate (limited to one rebate per household). We also have similar rebates for electrification products that can be found here.