Quantification of the environmental and economic benefits of lawn mowers electrification on the U.S. residential market

Michael Saidani (1) , Harrison Kim (1) , Ning Quan (1)

1 UIUC - University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign [Urbana]

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, around 30 million tons of pollutants are emitted by agricultural equipment every year in the U.S., accounting for more than a quarter of all non-road gasoline emissions. While around 55 million Americans owned a walk-behind mower and 25 million a riding mower in 2018, gasoline-powered ones represent 76% of the lawn mower market share, and electric-powered ones count for 24%. With this background, a pertinent question is: are electric-powered lawn mowers a better alternative to gas-powered ones nationwide from the economic and environmental perspectives? To date, most academic research and grey literature have focused on the comparison between conventional and electric vehicles, including numerous comparative life cycle assessments. Yet, in the agricultural sector, there is still a lack of in-depth investigations on the potential environmental benefits and economic repercussions of electrifying the lawn mower market. The main objectives of this research work are, therefore: (i) to quantify the environmental and economic performance of electric-powered lawn mowers compared to gasoline-powered ones, from a life cycle perspective in the U.S. residential market; and, (ii) to discuss the appropriate financial incentive to increase the market penetration of this electric solution if it makes sense environmentally. To do so, the proposed approach consists of three steps. First, the environmental impacts of a gas-powered ride-on mower and of an electric-powered mower of the same category are compared using the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. In parallel, a life cycle cost (LCC) analysis is conducted to compare the total cost of ownership of each system. Second, an extrapolation model is developed to interpret the results at a national scale, considering, e.g., the proper energy mix in each U.S. region. Third, based on the estimated potential environmental benefits, simulations of “what if” scenarios, including, e.g., the implementation of a subsidy or carbon tax, are made to evaluate the appropriate financial incentive that can stimulate green purchase. The combination of LCA and LCC results, mapped out in a two-dimensional chart, allows a clear visual representation of environmental and economic trade-offs between the two solutions.

Domaines: Sciences de l'ingénieur [physics]; Sciences de l'environnement; Modélisation et simulation

Michael Saidani, Harrison Kim, Ning Quan. Quantification of the environmental and economic benefits of lawn mowers electrification on the U.S. residential market. 26th CIRP Conference on Life Cycle Engineering Advancing Industrial Sustainability 2019, May 2019, West Lafayette, United States. ⟨10.1007/s11367-⟩. ⟨hal-03586564⟩