Go Green with an Eco-Friendly Lawn Mower Upgrade This Summer

A lawn mower is essential if you have a lawn to take care of during the summer months. Depending on where you live, you might have to mow the lawn multiple times each week during the growing season. Each time a lawn is mowed with a combustion engine, pollutants enter into the air. While emissions may be small for each mowing session, the total amount of pollution emitted by lawn mowers around the world annually is not insignificant. If you are in the market for a new lawn mower, consider purchasing one of the following types of mowers that will help to make your summer a little greener. You can find them at local hardware stores, building centers and lawn and garden suppliers. Additionally, you can purchase them from online retailers.

Reel Lawn Mower - These are the mowers of yesteryear; powered by you the user. Essentially a handlebar, multiple spiraled blades and wheels, this old fashioned mower eliminates the need for gas and oil. Some models come with a rear mounted grass catcher if you want to keep your lawn a little more tidy.

Electric Lawn Mower - If you want the mower to do a little more work while eliminating the need for gas and oil, you might want to purchase an electric mower. You can purchase a model that runs on either a cord or on a rechargeable battery. The corded variety gives you unlimited power, but limits mobility because of the cord. Electric lawn mowers that run on rechargeable batteries free users from cords, but are limited in the amount of power stored in the battery.

Mulching Lawn Mower - Gas powered mulching mowers can help you to go green this summer, while giving you the power of a combustion engine. While your emissions will not be reduced with this type of lawn mower, you will decrease the need to put fertilizer on your lawn. Residential lawn fertilizer is a major contributor to nitrate nitrogen pollution in groundwater. Mulching lawn mowers chop grass into tiny pieces and deposit them back onto the lawn. This puts nutrients back into the soil that are lost when using a lawn mower with a bag. If you are not in need of a new mower, you can purchase conversion kits to make your bagging mower a mulcher.