Why Reel Mowers are Still Best for the Environment

Most U.S. electricity is generated by burning coal.

Our family business sells both electric and reel mowers, and starting 2009,  solar powered mowers. We started over 12 years with a simple mission to retire as many polluting, noisy, gas powered mowers as we could. Originally we offered only one very perfect reel mower: the Brill Reel Mower.  And to this day, 55,000 mowers later, with countless customer feedback on all the mowers, we still believe manual push reel mowers are the solution for smaller lawns most of the time.

GENERATING ELECTRICITY IMPACTS THE ENVIRONMENT::
Why? Because generating electricity impacts the environment by producing green house gases. In 2004, 40% of the US total emissions of greenhouse gases was from electricity generation (pdf). Most of our electric power still comes from the traditional burning of fossil fuels, with the largest amount coming from the dirtiest source, coal.

THERE IS A MIDDLE GROUND::
So the compromise between the pure manual push reel mower and electric mower is the electric reel mower : Brill Accu. We love this mower because when we get back from vacation and the lawn is overgrown, cutting is easy using the cordless electric feature. And the rest of the year we can simply push this mower with out the electricity on. So it’s like 2 mowers in one. This also means when you run out of battery (because high grass is harder to cut and uses the battery up quicker), you can finish the job by just pushing.

So when choosing a mower, do consider that electric mowers are not without environmental cost…only reel mowers can claim that!

UPDATE TO THE MIDDLE GROUND- SOLAR POWER IS HERE! :
As of April 2009, there is a new solar powered mower that is a great choice. It is powerful, a rotary so a heavier and needs blade maintenance, but still a environmentally sound option for those whose yards are not candidates for reel mowers.

RELATED LINKS:
Chart to compare all the reel mowers out there.
Great site for more on the costs of electricity.