New Brill Reel Lawn Mowers for 2009

New: 2009 Season Reel Mowers from Brill:
The new mowing season is almost upon us (tho it sure is frozen here now!). Today I’ll discuss the Brill line of reel mowers we will be offering in 2009. End of last year saw the Luxus reel mowers replaced with the Razorcut models. Here’s more…

The Smallest Brill Reel Mower:
The smallest mower Brill makes it the Razorcut 33 reel mower. The cutting blade is 33 cm wide which is 13″.  This  reel mower is best for lawns of 2000 sq’ or less. It can be easily stored and hung on a hook. A grass catcher is an option. Great mower for condos and small lawns…it is incredibly light at 15 pounds…everyone can push this (including my grandmother)!

The Most Popular Reel Mower:
The next model is Europe’s #1 selling reel mower, made in Germany, the Brill Razorcut 38. The cutting blade is 38 cm / 15″ wide. This reel mower will handle jobs of 10,000 sq’ or less. The Razorcut 38 can certainly do more but we have found the person mowing often tires when mowing more than 10,000 sq’. A grass catcher is an option for the 38.

Mow your lawn when you are ready…9 am or 9 pm. The Brill Razor is so silent your neighbors can enjoy their activities in peace and you can even talk on your cell phone! Your children can play safely along side a reel mower: there are no flying objects or toxic fumes. Mowing your lawn with reel mowers is better for the air, better for the grass, and better for you.

Want to know specific differences between push mower models and manufacturers …check out our Push Mower Comparison Chart and our Brill/Sunlawn Comparison Chart. Already sold on a reel mower, you probably want to read our guide to transitioning your lawn. And remember, we have a 30 day trial period.

NEW BRILL ACCU ELECTRIC REEL MOWER:  BOTH an Electric and Manual Reel Mower:

brill electric mower

Lastly, Brill offers the unique electric reel mower: Accu Razorcut. The Razorcut is a battery powered version of the Razorcut 38. The Accu battery is inserted into the mower and taken out to charge. This means more than one battery can be purchased for larger jobs. One battery will power the mower for about 35 minutes. The Brill Accu Razorcut is the quietest electric mower made today.

One highlight of the Accu Razorcut is that it can be used as a manual mower as well. So if you have a little bit more to do to complete the lawn, you can just use it like a Razorcut 38. As with the other two Brill reel mowers, a grass catcher is an option for the Accu Razorcut electric reel mower.

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Related Info:

• Stop the Noise! How Leaf Blowers, Gas Mowers and Snow Blowers are Effecting Our Health
• Environmental reasons to use a reel mower
• EPA finally gets standards passed for gas powered mowers
• America Spends More Money on Lawn Care than Foreign Aid: Why We Need Less Lawn
• Why Reel Mowers are Still Best for the Environment
• How to put your reel lawn mower away for the winter

Winter Worm Composter Tips: From No-odor, to Ways to be Lazy!

worm composters are odorless and effective indoor composters.

Here are a few tips I have discovered using my worm composter (mine is a can-o-worms) inside this winter. My wormery composter has been inside for about 3 months now and the worms are multiplying like crazy and more than keeping up with our family of 4 kitchen wastes (except citrus and onions of course). Here’s how I have been keeping my worms happy and busy!

• First, it’s ok to be lazy. When those gallons of compost tea come out the spigot below and it’s too cold to go outside, simply dump that tea right back in the top of the composter. Great, you can stay in your slippers now.
• Next, onions and stinky stuff go to the outside bin. Or cover them in castings as you put them in. Then you are odor free. Yes!
• You probably know that citrus never goes in a worm composter. But I’ll mention it again…keep that ph in balance.
• Keep the top covered with shredded paper. It degrades over time so do keep adding it to the top.
• Bury those banana peels. I have never had it happen but a couple customers recommend this to avoid those little flies. Again, we eat a lot of bananas and don’t have this problem. I wonder if it is because ours are organic??
• Basement cold, turn the castings and food a bit. That will warm up the pile. Normally you would not do this because you do not want to heat up your worms, but in cold winter basements, a little extra heat can be a good thing!
• Wormery getting full and you really just don’t want to empty it til spring, no worries! Pour a bucket of water over the top and let it filter thru to the bottom. That will sink everything a bit. And use the compost tea right back over the pile a few more times in a week and you will see the pile go down. Whew…another trip outside avoided!
• Winter is a great time to get your kids into the worms. And to encourage them to show their friends. Again, an inside activity. Can you tell it’s really cold here!

Anyone else with winter composting tips? We want to hear…

RELATED POST :: Worm Composters: Spring Tips, Troubleshooting, and FAQ’s , Really Happy Worms! My Easy Winter Worm-Composting

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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.

The Sno Wovel and the Back

Another big storm. The northeast just got hit with another large storm. All schools in the area were closed for the day. This is shaping up to be a record winter in terms of snow fall. This storm delivered 8″ of snow before the snow turned to rain.

Sno Wovel receives two workouts. I used the Sno Wovel twice. Once to clear 6″ of snow and again to clear 2″ of snow and about an hour’s worth of rain. Clearing the snow went as usual, a nice walk around the driveway. Clearing the very wet snow was interesting.

Snow piled high. Because we’ve had so much snow, piling it up  had become a challenge. Some had melted since our last storm so I was able to find room. When I began clearing the wet snow, I found that because it was so heavy it just compacted the lighter snow beneath it. This made the job actually easier. I  had no trouble finding room, with the Sno Wovel all I had to do was drop or toss the wet snow onto the lighter snow.

Back feels fine. But the biggest advantage is that my back feels fresh. I have no side affects from using the Sno Wovel two times, once with very heavy wet snow. It is amazing to me that when you use this snow removal tool how the work load is taken up evenly by your entire body.

The Snow Wovel is great for your back!

Gotta Have! Fully Compostable Dinnerware and Kitchenware

We are pleased to be adding Vegware to our products. Vegware uses technology to make fully compostable cutlery and tableware. Their longterm goal is to make a difference in how waste is managed and processed. You can eat and drink and then compost.

Styrofoam cups, and disposable tableware and cutlery. Currently huge volumes of paper plates, trays, and styrofoam cups make their way to our landfills. The U.S. Department of the Environment estimates 50 billion styrofoam cups were put in landfills last year. An equal number of disposable tableware and cutlery were thrown in the landfills as well. All of this could be used in compost making in the future.

The Vegware Way. Vegware’s fiber based products present saner ecological and economic options that could have a significant impact in reducing the amount of waste generated from disposable tableware and cutlery products. Vegware is made from sugarcane, potatoes, and corn. It is fully biodegradable and ready to compost.

Presently. North American consumers are ordering take-out meals in record numbers. U.S. government statistics show American families spend $3,360 a year to avoid cooking at home. Currently, an estimated 39 billion items of disposable cutlery make their way to American landfills yearly (source: The Food Packaging Institute, Washington, D.C.). Unlike traditional cutlery, Vegware products are designed to breakdown naturally, eliminating unnecessary waste.

Ways to compost. Vegware can be put into a compost pile or for better composting, crush the Vegware into smaller pieces before composting. The plates, bowls, forks, and spoons can all be composted. We’ll be adding more information as we get to know this product better.

CUTLERY Knives, forks and spoons made from corn and potato starch, biodegradable and compostable. TABLEWARE Plates and bowls made from bagasse, a fibre created from the pressing of sugar cane. Sturdy, eco-friendly, compostable and biodegradable HOT CUPS the hot drink cup revolution, compostable hot-drink cup and lid combination, completely biodegradable and suitable for composting. TAKE-OUT BOXES Hinged boxes made from bagasse, a fibre created from the pressing of sugar cane. Sturdy, eco-friendly, compostable and biodegradable

5 Minute Adjustment keeps Your Reel Mower Blades Perfect

First, this is for new generation reel mowers only:
The Brill and Sunlawn line of reel lawnmowers have a non-contact cutting system. This means the reel blades stay sharp and you will save money and time on sharpening services. Older generation reel mowers require frequent blade sharpening because  the reel blades make contact with the bedknife. Brill and Sunlawn engineered the reel mower so the blades miss the bedknife by .05mm, thus the blades cut better and last longer. However, there is a yearly adjustment that you need to do to keep the reel blade working great.

The Brill and Sunlawn reel lawnmowers blades stay sharp up to 8 years. Older generation reel mowers need frequent sharpening. In fact, when you calculate how much money is saved by less sharpening of the blades, the Brill and Sunlawn’s cost  less than the older generation mowers. You can see all old and new generation reel mowers in this chart.

This is the simple little guage:

guage for new generation reel mowers (Brill and Sunlawn)

The Brill reel mowers and the Sunlawn reel mowers come with a gauge taped to the manual (and it’s easy to miss). Don’t be like our web designer who threw hers away. Keep it. It is a thin piece of metal and is used to adjust the gap between the bedknife and the spinning reel blades on your reel mowers. If you loose it, you can get a replacement one here.

Once a year adjustment

When your Brill or sunlawn reel mower arrives the blades have been set perfectly by the factory. The second year, you’ll notice the mower is not cutting as well as when it was new. Just turn your mower over and you’ll see two bolts on either side of the mower which have an octagonal head. Take a 10mm wrench loosen both bolts…turning clock wise about a 1/4 of a turn. Take the gauge and place it between the bedknife and the reel blade at one side of the mower. The blades should just pinch the gauge. Check the other side as well to make sure the blades just pinch the gauge. Here are some pictures of this process on our site.

OK, where’d I put it?
Put your gauge in a safe place as you’ll be using it again. I tape it to my manual. And you can order replacement reel mower guages here.

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Related Info:

• Stop the Noise! How Leaf Blowers, Gas Mowers and Snow Blowers are Effecting Our Health
• Environmental reasons to use a reel mower
• EPA finally gets standards passed for gas powered mowers
• America Spends More Money on Lawn Care than Foreign Aid: Why We Need Less Lawn
• Why Reel Mowers are Still Best for the Environment
• How to put your reel lawn mower away for the winter
• How to Transition your Lawn from a Rotary Mower to a Reel Mower

Stop! Opt Out of Getting Telephone Books

phone books cannot go into your recycling stream

When was the last time you used a printed telephone book to look up a phone number? In fact, with cell phones, how many phone numbers are actually in telephone books these days anyway? Directory publishers usually do make their listings available online, but the printed books are big money-makers for them as print ads fetch gazillions, even though their effectiveness is waning and much harder to track. It’s time for telephone book companies to face the fact that their products are becoming obsolete to many and should only be delivered if someone wants them. The Yellow and White Page industry have failed to understand the social, economic, and political green movement across the country…so let’s help them!

5 MINUTES TO OPT-OUT OF GETTING A  TELEPHONE BOOK…
Most individual yellow and white page publishers have “no deliver” lists they can add you to, but they will not be held accountable if the books show up anyway. The YellowPagesGoesGreen.org website will find your local/regional directory pages publishers and ask them not to deliver on your behalf. The site warns, though, that there are no guarantees with this either. So go right now and add your name, pledge your support, and we can make a change!

Yellowpagesgoesgreen.com is helping municipalities and local governments around the country establish ordinances to mandate Yellow Pages and White Pages only be delivered to home and offices that ask for them. Municipalities and local government that provide trash services are extremely concerned about the landfill cost and why they have to absorb the cost of handling the telephone directories.

NOT SURE IT’S WORTH THE TROUBLE…READ THESE FACTS ::

• 19 million trees, 7.2 billion barrels of oil, …:
  According to YellowPagesGoesGreen.org more than 500 million phone directories — nearly two books for every American – are printed and distributed every year in the U.S.. To produce 500 million telephone books it takes:
  • 19 million trees need to be harvested
  • 1.6 billion pounds of paper are wasted
  • 7.2 million barrels of oil are misspent in their processing (not including the wasted gas used for their delivery to your doorstep)
  • 268,000 cubic yards of landfill are taken up
  • 3.2 billion kilowatt hours of electricity are squandered
  • which then generates 268,000 cubic yards of solid waste (not including the books themselves, many of which eventually end up in landfills in areas where recycling is not available or convenient
• Only 10% of phone books are recycled:
  No specific data is available but a random sample from this site shows people are recycling these books at a rate of less than 10%. Most respondents just throw them in the trash can.
• Phone Books cannot go in your regular recycling stream due to paper quality:
  Many recyclers won’t accept telephone books because the fibers used to make the books’ lightweight pages are too short to be reformulated into new paper. In fact, mixing old phonebooks in with other waste paper can even contaminate the batch, hindering the recyclability of the other paper fibers.
• When books are recycled, think of the transportation and logistics costs:
  You can visit a site called www.earth911.org/ to find the closest recycling center to take your used and or unwanted books for recycling. And this all sounds great except how much gas and energy is being used by the individual to go and recycle a telephone book that you did not want in the first place? So I am getting an unsolicited book and being told to recycle it. How about not giving it to me in the first place?
• If you can get them recycled, yes there is a great savings:
  According to Los Gatos, California’s Green Valley Recycling, if all Americans recycled their phonebooks for a year, we would save 650,000 tons of paper and free up two million cubic yards of landfill space. Modesto, California’s Parks, Recreation & Neighborhoods Department says that for each 500 books recycled, we save 7,000 gallons of water, 3.3 cubic yards of landfill space, 17 to 31 trees and 4,100 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power an average home for six months.
• And there are some odd uses for exisiting phone books:
  • Their pages make excellent fire starters in a wood-burning fireplace or outdoor fire pit.
  • Balled up or shredded phonebook pages also make nice packaging filler in place of problematic polystyrene “peanuts.”
  • Phonebook pages can also be shredded and used as mulch to keep weeds down in your garden.
  • The paper is compostable and biodegradable and will eventually return back to the soil.
  • Those with an artistic bent can use old phonebooks to make flipbook style animated drawings, as described by animator Robert Truscio on his “Drawings That Move” instructional website.
  • There are also a number of telephone book collectors; some who make money selling their stock to those with a historical interest or who are researching family genealogies. Lifelong collector Gwillim Law sells old phonebooks from all 50 U.S. states as well as from most Canadian and Australian provinces.

RELATED LINKS ::

Environmental Issues from PPM
Composters and Composting

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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.

Stop! Don’t put Shredded Paper in your Recycling Bin

NO SHREDDED PAPER!

Now that many cities are moving towards single stream recycling systems, one thing that is not clear to consumers is that not all paper can go into these big sorters. In fact do not put any shredded paper in as it clogs machines, and if it does get thru it  lowers the value of that batch of paper!

Shredded paper is too small to sort—the pieces fall through the cracks of the sorting machines, stick to the belts and end up all over the floor.

As well, the paper mills that buy recycled paper must do a quality sort on the material before they put it into their multi-million dollar machines, and it’s just plain impossible to do a good quality sort of shredded paper. Many contaminants can hide in the shred, such as plastic strips from a document cover that were accidentally shredded along with the paper. For this reason, paper markets don’t like to buy shredded paper and don’t like to see it in with the higher-grade junk mail and office paper.

When you shred paper, what you’re actually doing is cutting the lengths of the individual paper fibers, thus cutting the future recycling potential of that fiber. The length of a paper fiber determines its value since a longer fiber can be used to make a higher-grade paper and can be recycled more times.

NOW FOR THE GOOD NEWS::

• Worms love a layer of shredded paper on top of them. They like the dark and the paper keeps the moisture content nice and even. So use the paper in your worm composter.
• Compost piles are always looking for “brown matter” during these winter months, so that is a great place to put your shredded paper. It will virtually dissolve before spring. We have a Sunmar composter which is filled with kitchen waste and the newspaper definitely helps heat up the composter during the winter months.

MORE RECYCLING FACTS:

COOL VIDEOS ON SINGLE STREAM RECYCLING :

And if you are curious, there are a host of videos on YouTube showing you how these very cool single stream recycling centers work. I particularly like to watch how magnets make the aluminum cans fly away from the other waste materials.

YouTube Videos : Tour recycling plants and watch the recycling process

Top 10 Greenest Colleges in America

Oberlin College

Recently we have been working with schools and universities on larger scale composting systems and big belly solar compacting garbage cans. As well we have been offering a range of composting curriculum and educational composters and working with educational consultants such as GreenFoxSchools. Suffice to say we are in the thick of the greening of schools movement. As a newly retired teacher, you can imagine how proud I am to be contributing to these efforts plus it keeps me in touch with my school network.

Anyway, I digress. The real reason for this post is to point out the article on the Daily Green on America’s top 10 Greenest Colleges.

America’s institutions of higher learning are some of the best incubators of sustainable solutions to myriad problems, and they are molding and inspiring the bright minds that will inherit the environment from the current generation of leaders.

CONGRATULATIONS TO TOP 10 GREENEST COLLEGES IN AMERICA ::

• College of the Atlantic
• Warren Wilson College
• Evergreen State College
• Oberlin College
• Middlebury College
• Berea College
• University of California
• UC Merced
• Harvard University
• Duke University

AND THE HONORABLE MENTIONS ::

• Northland College in Ashland, Wisconsin
• Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut.
• Connecticut College in New London, Connecticut.
• Tufts University in Massachussets.
• Green Mountain College in Poultney, Vermont.
• Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
• University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont.

Northland College

Two New Remington Electric Mowers Coming In April 2009

UPDATE TO THIS POST: Remington Mower is going out of business! To find powerful comparable replacement we tested 2009 models and choose the Epic Mower with solar charging option. Read whole story.

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Last year Remington started making electric mowers for the first time. They made an electric mower which could be used with a battery or in corded mode.

Remington will be adding two new electric rotary mowers this spring. The electric mowers compliment the Remington MPS6017A which was popular last mowing season. The MPS6017A operates as both a battery powered electric mower and a corded electric mower. The user could choose which source of power to use when mowing. The MPS6017A will be sold this year as well.

NEW 2009: The MB6017A is a battery powered electric mower. The powerful and removable 60 Volt battery will run up to 1 hour of run time on a single charge. The mower comes with a bagger and has a 17″ cutting blade. This mower is 20% lighter than the Black and Decker battery mowers. The MB6017A includes an external charging adapter and spare batteries are an option. The mower comes with a two year warranty.

NEW 2009: The MEB1217A is a 12 Amp corded electric mower with BOOST. The internal circuitry constantly regulates blade speed to the maximum. This mower comes with a bagger and has a 17″ cutting blade. It features a unique storage compartment for safety goggles. It is lightweight, weighing only 40 lbs. The mower comes with a two year warranty.

Remington now has all the bases covered. If you want a battery powered mower, they offer the MB6017A. If you want a corded electric mower, they offer the MEB1217A. If you want both the battery and the corded, Remington offers the MPS6017A.

Sno Wovel Easily Clears 14″ Snowfall. And more Importantly, Saves my Back!

Snowovel Resting in my front yard.

The Sno Wovel passed yet another test this weekend. Those living in the northeast got slammed with 14″ of beautiful snow. The forecast was for 4″ to 8″ so we were very surprised by the total amount we received from this snow storm.

The test the Sno Wovel, a snow removal tool, was challenged by was how high could snow be put or thrown. We already had nearly a foot of snow on the ground from previous storms and it was piled high by the Wovel. Because the forecast was for 4″ to 8″, when the snow began piling up I went out and began Woveling. It was quite fun, 30 minutes to clear my driveway.

Later that Sunday, I saw the snow piling up again and went out and cleared the driveway for what I thought was the last time. I noticed that when I went to throw the snow, there was less and less room for it to go. It was getting close to 4′ high in many spots. Shortly after the snow stopped.

When I woke up Monday morning, we had 8″ more of snow on the driveway. I got dressed and began Woveling. Now I had a challenge in many places where previously I had piled the snow. When I approached a high mound I pushed the Sno-Wovel into it and lifted. The snow went up and came back down, some of it on the driveway. Slowly I learned how to get the snow up and back using the snow removal tool. Sometimes I had to make two attempts. But all in all, the Sno Wovel worked great.

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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.

Big Belly Solar Trash Compacters = Win, Win, Win

We are delighted to announce the addition of Big Belly Solar products to our line. These compacters can do a great deal toward lowering energy costs associated with trash pick up.

The compacters can work in many ways. The units have a solar panel which is placed on top of the compacter which stands about four feet  high. All trash can be placed in the unit and is slowly compacted by energy gathered by the solar panel. Compaction occurs at an average of 5 to 1. This means that collection occurs 80% less frequently.

A more efficient use would be to have just recyclables placed in the Big Belly Solar unit. After the 5 to 1 compaction and collection, the contents should be brought to a single stream recycling facility, where everything would be effectively recycled.

The City of Boston has many Big Belly units in use, and Mayor Menino speaks highly of the job they are doing. Towns, cities, businesses, parks, beaches, and colleges will soon be adding Big Belly Solar compacters to their recycling and trash plans.

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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.

New Tumbleweed Composter Made From Recycled Plastic

The Tumbleweed manufacturers have come out with a new Tumbleweed composter. This tumble type compost maker is made from 100% post industrial recycled plastic and carries the same warranty as the original Tumbleweed composter. It is important we all begin to demand plastic products come from recycled products whenever we can and this is an easy way to start.

tumbleweed composter makes compost faster and easiesr

The new Tumbleweed made from 100% recycled plastic is black (The original Tumbleweed is green). Presently US supply is out of the green Tumbleweeds, but is fully supplied with the black one. The black color should generate more heat as well.

Take the back-breaking work out of composting! There’s no need to fork and lift when you use the Tumbleweed Compost Bin. Just add kitchen and yard waste to the 7 cu. ft. bin, and with a quick spin, you can create a rich compost mix in as little as 21 days. Due to the Tumbleweed’s patented “aeration method”, you can make at least four loads of compost in the time it takes traditional methods to produce one. All with only a daily spin. No turning, no mess, no pests. Save your back and enjoy your garden!

How The Tumbleweed Compost Maker Works:

• Add organic waste and tumble on a regular basis. The Tumbleweed  loads easily thru the top of the unit.
• Just a spin a day : No Heavy forking of the contents or complicated layering techniques are not required.
• Minimum effort : simply fill the bin with the required materials and tumble every couple of days.
• Leverage allows young and old to tumble the bin, even when full.
• Air and moisture are distributed by the tumble action creating ideal conditions for rapid decomposition.
• Valuable nutrients are retained within the bin.
• Will recycle 100% lawn clippings. Grass cuttings are usually produced in such quantity that traditional composting methods cannot handle them.

The Tumbleweed has been our best compost maker when using grass clippings. In two weeks time, the grass clippings convert to compost fully. The Tumbleweed can also be used for  food waste. See our page for Tumbleweed Composter Composting Tips or read our more general compost tips and tricks for more info on the type of foods and other composting info.

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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.

Sunlawn Electric and Reel Mower News

UPDATE TO POST : Sunlawn Mower Reel Mower Brand Taken over by Easun

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We just learned today that Sunlawn will continue to manufacture in China for another year. Earlier in the year we were told that they would be moving their manufacturing operation to Indiana.

This year  Sunlawn plans to produce three reel mowers and a lawn trimmer. Two of the mowers will closely resemble the LMM reel mower series produced last year, 2008. Presently, we are selling the LMM40 reel mower. The new mowers will be called Ideal and offer cutting blades of 35 and 40 centermeters. These mowers will sell in the $150 range.

Sunlawn will  also produce a Classic model which will be somewhat similar to the MM2 model produced in 2007. The MM2 reel mower was a very popular mower. The Classic will have five blades. The cutting height can be adjusted from .5″ to 3″.

We’ll keep you posted on when the Sunlawn reel mowers come available. We expect them to be here in early March.

The Best Composter for Really Busy (or lazy) People!

In-ground Composter: No-turn, Empty Once a Year.

A product we love is the Green Cone System made by Solarcone. The Green Cone acts like a complete compost maker without the end product, compost. Basically, using the sun’s power, the Green Cone converts your food waste to water, carbon dioxide, and a small amount of residue. 90% of food waste is water which the Green Cone returns to the soil.

An outstanding feature of the Green Cone is that you can put fish, meat, and bones into it. Most compost makers do not handle fish, meat, and bones. Another excellent feature is that the Green Cone fits right into your garden. It has a nice clean look. And lastly the Green Cone needs to be emptied about one time per year. How’s that for low maintenance?

You wonder about customer satisfaction? Along with many of our products, this is a winner. We have not had one Green Cone returned in 12 years of business.

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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.

Winter Composting Solutions

Some folks get discouraged and stop composting in the winter months. The Soil Saver may bring some of those folks back to composting 12 months of the year.

The Soil Saver is not new, it has been in production for 25 years. It was designed for warm and cold climates and features insulating UV – resistant foam panels to hold in the heat. The Soil Saver also  has watering holes which work with the rain to keep compost moist.

Two foot wide openings make for easy drop in of waste materials for compost. Two foot wide panel doors make for easy compost harvesting. The Soil Saver is well designed and serves a household of 5 people.

Ideas on Mowing Bermuda and Zoysia Grass

We feel peoplepoweredmachines.com offers lots of great ways to mow your lawns with the exception of those folks whose lawns have Bermuda or Zoysia grasses.

Occasionally, folks use the Brill Accu Razorcut and are pleased with how it works, but this is usually not the case. So we do not recommend the Brill mowers for mowing Bermuda or Zoysia grasses.

We hear of folks who use gas powered mowers but we are not interested in gas powered machines. Does anyone out there know of other alternatives? Please let us know if you have any ideas. We would love to find an environmentally friendly solution.

Trees: Study Finds Exact Placement for best Energy Savings

We all know that planting trees improves our air quality, protects our watersheds, prevents erosion, and improves our lives in many ways.  And now a study by the Pacific Northwest Research Station titled ‘The Value of Shade: Estimating the Effect of Urban Trees on Summertime Electricity Use’ documents exactly how they can save money….your money, taxpayers dollars, and postpone the need for more utility facilities. The study says that trees placed on the west and south faces of a house in a hot area of California can cut back a homeowner’s summertime electric bill by about $25 annually. Not impressed? Just multiply the small change with the number of houses in California. The numbers assume significance.

“Everyone knows that shade trees cool a house. No one is going to get a Nobel Prize for that conclusion,” says study co-author Geoffrey Donovan. “But this study gets at the details: Where should a tree be placed to get the most benefits? And how exactly do shade trees impact our carbon footprint?”

THE CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY WERE ::

• Placement of a tree is central to energy savings. The amount of the savings depends on the location of the tree.
• Trees planted within 40 feet of the south side or within 60 feet of the west side of the house will generate about the same amount of energy savings. This is because of the way shadows fall at different times of the day.
• Tree cover on the east side of a house has no effect on electricity use.
• A tree planted on the west side of a house can reduce net carbon emissions from summertime electricity use by 30 percent over a 100-year period.

It’s great to see the utility companies get involved in reducing electric use rather than building out new facilities:

In 2007, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District gave its customers about 16,000 free trees (at a cost of $85.00 a tree). The district will recoup this investment in 26 years provided trees are planted on the west side of a house.

RELATED LINKS ::

Environmental Issues from PPM
Benefits of Planting Trees

http://www.fs.fed.us/pnw/

Hey! We are Looking for Great Recycling Units and Compacters

Just a year ago we sold a neat in home or office recycling unit called the Ecopod. Ecopod operated business on the west coast. Something happened to the owner, and we were no longer able to get supplies.

Since we lost contact with Ecopod we have been looking to replace the product line. We just have made contact with two exciting products. One is very similar to the Ecopod and is called the Mode Premium. You use it in your home to store and compact bottles and cans. You also use it for paper collection and trash.

At the same time we have made contact with a company which makes solar compacters on a larger scale. These would be used by businesses, towns, schools, and universities. Presently the compacters compress what is put inside at a 5 to 1 ratio.

Customers have the option of identifying one compacter to be item specific so that plastic bottles go in one compacter, aluminum cans go in another compacter, and trash for yet another. This is obviously better for the recycling benefit.

The compacter company sites all the savings associated with trash collection. Successful use would mean an 80% savings on fuel, traffic, and pollution associated with trash collection.

We’ll keep you posted as we learn more about the Recycling units and Compacters.

The Sno Wovel Does It Again: Heavy Wet Snow + My Back is Still Fine

With winter staring us in the eyes, it looks like I’ll have lots of opportunities to work with the Sno Wovel. Last night brought 3″ more of the lovely white stuff. This was very heavy wet snow. Those of you who follow my winter-tests know I have a history of back injuries AND a reeeaaaalllly long driveway! So this is a product that I am thrilled really follows thru on it’s ergonomic back-saving promise.

Previously, the handles on the wheeled snow shovel seemed a little high so I adjusted them to be about 3″ lower. This adjustment made the work more comfortable, and it made tossing the snow easier. I’m 5′10″ and this height worked well for me. Because there was only 3″ I could be a little more creative in my technique. I have found doing strips of about 15′ was most efficient. If I had fluffy snow, I might do strips of 30′.

The work went well and once again I had no back pain or muscle pain. It is a treat to have the Sno Wovel in my garage.

Now with a folding frame for maximum portability and more convenient storage!

The Revolutionary, Award Winning Sno Wovel®:

A Vertical Restaurant Business?

As we get close to selling industrial composters an interesting thought came to mind. Wouldn’t it be something to go to a restaurant where you ate a great meal. The food scraps from the meals and the food waste from the preparation went into a compost maker on the roof. The compost produced was used to grow vegetables and fruit at the roof top garden. Later these fruits and vegetables will be used in the cooking of the meals.

I’m sure to some this sounds a bit out there. And I’m sure to others it makes complete sense. And I’m pretty sure this is being done in some form in some locations. But this could be a common practice soon.

What a great idea for congested cities with no more garbage collection for all the restaurants. Think of the savings on fuel and the benefits to the environment. Think of the benefit of local produce, both for the grower and the customer.

PPM New Business: Advising on Industrial Food Waste Composting Options

While we have been very pleased to be able to offer high quality compost makers to our customers, we had been disappointed not to be able to advise folks who handle large quantities of food waste. Happily this is no longer the case.

Over the summer months we began looking at industrial composting companies.  We think that we are close to making a deal which would allow us to advise customers on how to go about composting large amounts of food waste.

The company we are negotiating with offers 4 compost makers. They range in size and how much mixed food waste they can process in a week. The smallest machine can process 600 litres of mixed food waste per week which would be the equivalent of 50 households. This machine would be suitable for  schools, businesses, and restaurants. The largest machine can process 7,000 litres of mixed food waste per week which would be equivalent to 580 households. This machine would be suitable for large businesses, large boarding schools, and universities.

We look forward to being able to consult customers on their composting  needs. More to come as we finalize negotiations.

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Peoplepoweredmachines is a family owned business, 11 years old, always selling environmentally sound products such as reel mowers, electric mowers, composters, rainbarrels, solar products and more.