General Urban Waterloo Updates and Rumours

[ac3r]

What's wrong with leaf blowers?

[panamaniac]

Noise and pollution are the usual complaints.

[danbrotherston]

Noise and pollution are the usual complaints.

I mean, I wouldn't call them "complaints" they are legitimate harms that gas leaf blowers create.

Whether you feel they are worth a ban (or some other policy) is a matter of opinion, but that they are harms, is not an opinion.

[plam]

Noise and pollution are the usual complaints.

Yeah. Pollution: https://www.wweek.com/news/dr-know/2021/...the-noise/

Biodiversity: https://www.yasteelshot.com/news/opinion...ork-times/

[ac3r]

Fair enough. I'd love if gas powered equipment could be phased out and replaced by electric or battery powered machines. The only times gas should be used is if you need a stronger motor or happen to be doing something too far from an electrical outlet and you still lack battery powered machines.

[ijmorlan]

Noise and pollution are the usual complaints.

I mean, I wouldn't call them "complaints" they are legitimate harms that gas leaf blowers create.

Whether you feel they are worth a ban (or some other policy) is a matter of opinion, but that they are harms, is not an opinion.

Just because they’re legitimate doesn’t mean they’re not complaints.

We may be too used to people complaining about bogus stuff like a second door on their neighbour’s house, or losing a lane for their car to good bicycle infrastructure. But there are lots of perfectly valid or at least colorable complaints.

[danbrotherston]

I mean, I wouldn't call them "complaints" they are legitimate harms that gas leaf blowers create.

Whether you feel they are worth a ban (or some other policy) is a matter of opinion, but that they are harms, is not an opinion.

Just because they’re legitimate doesn’t mean they’re not complaints.

We may be too used to people complaining about bogus stuff like a second door on their neighbour’s house, or losing a lane for their car to good bicycle infrastructure. But there are lots of perfectly valid or at least colorable complaints.

I mean, yes, complaint often has an implication of flippancy or un-importance and I certainly was arguing this point in my statement. I didn't and still don't think we should frame it that way.

But I think there's a broader point. "Complaints" are things that people make, even if there was nobody anywhere complaining about leaf blowers, I think it would still make sense to consider policies to limit them because the harms still exist.

I very much fall on the "yes" side of "if a tree falls in the forest and there is nobody to hear it, does it make a sound".

I don't think it applies in this case (or generally in this forum) but the "nobody complained" response is a common way to ignore the interests of disadvantaged people.

So yeah, I still stand by what I suggest, words matter, even the ones we use here, where we all are generally reasonable.

Sorry, feeling preachy this morning for some reason.

[Bjays93]

No reason we can't have electric leaf blowers. Just bought an electric weed whacker to replace our old gas one and its incredible.

Battery life is still a little shorter than ideal, at a little over an hour but that's easily solved by getting and extra battery and charging one while using another.

[ac3r]

That's fine for personal use, but landscaping companies that are doing large properties and/or many jobs in one day can't rely on batteries that last 1 hour or swapping them out non stop. Sometimes they're out there 10 hours a day going from job to job. The battery electric technology would need to improve before we started banning gas equipment.

[nms]

My observations of leaf blower use is that they rarely accomplish what they are supposed to do, even when operated by a professional landscaping crew, regardless of the time of day and/or outdoor temperatures. The targeted leaves and grass might be moved a few inches, but rarely completely out of where they were in the first place. A broom or rake would probably do the job just as quickly.

[danbrotherston]

That's fine for personal use, but landscaping companies that are doing large properties and/or many jobs in one day can't rely on batteries that last 1 hour or swapping them out non stop. Sometimes they're out there 10 hours a day going from job to job. The battery electric technology would need to improve before we started banning gas equipment.

Sure they can, they just need batteries to swap in while charging the others through the day and night. They aren't the first workers to do this. Construction workers already use battery tools extensively.

But nms is also right, a broom and rake also work.

[Acitta]

I thought that there was a thread on this project, but I can't find it.
Former Ontario Die factory in Waterloo is being transformed into condos and townhomes

Edit: The thread is Spur Line Common.

[the_conestoga_guy]

That's fine for personal use, but landscaping companies that are doing large properties and/or many jobs in one day can't rely on batteries that last 1 hour or swapping them out non stop. Sometimes they're out there 10 hours a day going from job to job. The battery electric technology would need to improve before we started banning gas equipment.

The new electric truck market (I'm thinking specifically of the Ford F-150 Lightning) touts the plethora of electric receptacles on their trucks for running jobsites. I could see a landscaping company driving a truck around as a mobile power plant, and rotating out their batteries throughout the day. The could even use wired equipment plugged directly into the truck.

To quote this Global News article that I found while reading into this: "In most urban areas, Brauer estimates that lawn equipment would be contributing 10 to 20 per cent of overall emissions."
https://globalnews.ca/news/8328175/leaf-...pollution/

It's certainly not a perfect solution, but it's an important subject that needs to be addressed somehow.

[danbrotherston]

That's fine for personal use, but landscaping companies that are doing large properties and/or many jobs in one day can't rely on batteries that last 1 hour or swapping them out non stop. Sometimes they're out there 10 hours a day going from job to job. The battery electric technology would need to improve before we started banning gas equipment.

The new electric truck market (I'm thinking specifically of the Ford F-150 Lightning) touts the plethora of electric receptacles on their trucks for running jobsites. I could see a landscaping company driving a truck around as a mobile power plant, and rotating out their batteries throughout the day. The could even use wired equipment plugged directly into the truck.

To quote this Global News article that I found while reading into this: "In most urban areas, Brauer estimates that lawn equipment would be contributing 10 to 20 per cent of overall emissions."
https://globalnews.ca/news/8328175/leaf-...pollution/

It's certainly not a perfect solution, but it's an important subject that needs to be addressed somehow.

I would love it if the F-150 was used for actual work. Sadly, it's designed very poorly for that...a typical contractor would need a trailer at minimum to use as a work truck.

It's only available as a short bed <6 feet long, and the bed is very high off the ground, making loading very difficult, compared with earlier pickups.

Frankly, they don't actually make trucks that are well suited to contractor work anymore, but at least you can get standard sized beds in other places.

Of course, most contractors know this, and prefer more sensible vehicles.

The advertising promoting the vehicles as "working vehicles" is nothing more than a play on toxic masculinity. Suburban office workers might feel more like "real men" if they drive a "work truck".

Your theoretical solution is excellent, but it is very far from what the auto companies are doing.

[jwilliamson]

I thought that there was a thread on this project, but I can't find it.
Former Ontario Die factory in Waterloo is being transformed into condos and townhomes

https://www.waterlooregionconnected.com/...hp?tid=716