Landscape Management, December 2015

Regarding productivity Beck says the equipment is getting at least two hours of battery life which is longer than a tank of gas However Beck says the equipment is not as powerful as the gas equipment the company used to run In Willamettes rainy climate where grass is often thick and may need to be mowed wet he says it can be tricky It does require us to slow down a bit Beck says In an industry where its all about effciency thats contradictory to the crews so we do need to educate them about why were doing this and what the benefts are Once they understand theyre on board Still the company switches back to gas powered equipment during the wettest parts of the spring and fall But Beck says the mowers work great in drier conditions The other downside has been the investment While a gas powered walk behind mower might cost the company around 1000 Beck says an electric equivalent with batteries can cost more than twice as much However we hope that with no gas and no oil the return on investment will be pretty good he continues Since all we have to do is swap out blades the mechanic should never have to touch it And in the clients eyes they dont know about the extra cost or that were moving a little slower All they see is the benefts to them and thats a huge plus for us Beck hopes the demand for this equipment will grow It would not only drive the prices down but it would encourage manufacturers to produce even better equipment As demand grows the equipment will get better and better Beck says We believe that electric will be the way of the future and will continue transitioning our company that direction GIVING GREEN A CHANCE Madison Earth Care Landscaping Headquarters Madison Conn Client mix Primarily residential Service mix 70 design build 30 maintenance Employees 45 Four years ago Bob Blundon owner and founder of Madison Earth Care Landscaping was already using solar power at his home when he decided to see if he could use it to recharge some of the Stihl electric equipment his company invested in Around the same time in an effort to operate more sustainably the company switched to propane powered Scag zero turn mowers Overall Blundon says the changes have put the company in a league of its own and its been a major differentiator from the competition The switch was big About 80 percent of the company mowers are propane its string trimmers are all electric and its hedge trimmers are 95 percent electric He has two enclosed solar powered trailers to charge all the electric equipment Our clients were thrilled Blundon says We marketed it to our customers saying that with no price increase they could still be greener consumers Its basically a no brainer for the client Blundon says hes invested about 8000 in the solar powered trailer setup While he expected the ROI to come from fuel savings he says the bigger savings have come from labor and maintenance Instead of going to the gas station twice a week were going once every two weeks Blundon says Thats been the bigger beneft And we no longer have to rip up carburetors because of cruddy gas ruining our equipment And its quieter and lighter weight We really see a ton of benefts to this change In fact Blundon says his crews have been more effcient since the change Pushing and toting around LANDSCAPEMANAGEMENT NET DECEMBER 2015 BP4 Bob Blundon runs propane mowers in addition to a fleet of battery powered equipment PHOTO MADISON EARTH CARE LANDSCAPING