How gas powered leaf blower creates as much pollution in one hour as a car does driving over 1,100 miles. (EPA data)

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I don’t understand how this is possible. The car engine is more efficient but the leaf blower would use a gallon or less of fuel that that amount of time as where the car would burn 30 to 40 times more that for the trip.

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26 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Great responses so far pointing out that leaf blowers produce large amounts of particulates and smog forming hydrocarbons, but not large amounts of CO2. But no one has mentioned the main reason why- leaf blowers are generally two stroke engines. [They produce about twice as much power per pound as four stroke engines, but they exhaust a lot of partly burned fuel and even oil by design.](https://urbanemissions.blogspot.com/2009/12/2-stroke-vs-4-stroke-engines.html) This is way beyond the fact that they lack catalytic converters and pcv systems, it is inherently inefficient and dirty. Two stroke engines are restricted in most parts of the world for most purposes, but leaf blowers have to be light, so they’re exempt.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Great responses so far pointing out that leaf blowers produce large amounts of particulates and smog forming hydrocarbons, but not large amounts of CO2. But no one has mentioned the main reason why- leaf blowers are generally two stroke engines. [They produce about twice as much power per pound as four stroke engines, but they exhaust a lot of partly burned fuel and even oil by design.](https://urbanemissions.blogspot.com/2009/12/2-stroke-vs-4-stroke-engines.html) This is way beyond the fact that they lack catalytic converters and pcv systems, it is inherently inefficient and dirty. Two stroke engines are restricted in most parts of the world for most purposes, but leaf blowers have to be light, so they’re exempt.

Anonymous 0 Comments

* A gas powered leaf blower has a different kind of engine that actually mixes the gasoline and the oil together.
* It ends up burning *both* the gas and oil.
* Car engines don’t (intentionally) burn oil.
* That’s the big difference.

Anonymous 0 Comments

* A gas powered leaf blower has a different kind of engine that actually mixes the gasoline and the oil together.
* It ends up burning *both* the gas and oil.
* Car engines don’t (intentionally) burn oil.
* That’s the big difference.

Anonymous 0 Comments

because co2 is not pollution, it is the goal product of perfect combustion. the car is designed to burn very cleanly and has filters and convertors to capture non-co2 products created in the cylinder. the leaf blower does not run have any pollution control and nobody cares if it is efficient or not because it does not run enough to put in that kind of effort and expense.

Anonymous 0 Comments

because co2 is not pollution, it is the goal product of perfect combustion. the car is designed to burn very cleanly and has filters and convertors to capture non-co2 products created in the cylinder. the leaf blower does not run have any pollution control and nobody cares if it is efficient or not because it does not run enough to put in that kind of effort and expense.

Anonymous 0 Comments

If someone is interested in a suggestion, I have the EGO 56V blower, and I’m very happy with it.

The capacitors on 48V inverters are 63V max, so…these 56V batteries can also run an inverter to provide 120V AC during a power outage.

Anonymous 0 Comments

If someone is interested in a suggestion, I have the EGO 56V blower, and I’m very happy with it.

The capacitors on 48V inverters are 63V max, so…these 56V batteries can also run an inverter to provide 120V AC during a power outage.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Two stroke engines, usually what you’ll find in something small like that rev a lot higher, burning fuel that much faster. Two stroke motors are also almost always going to be carbureted, which effects fuel economy and emissions to a degree too. Cars use 4 stroke motors, that are usually monitoring fuel with various (and if you work on cars, they seem to be endless and everywhere!) sensors and tuned fuel injection systems that are fairly precise. The big kicker though, is the catalytic converter. The catalytic converter is past the exhaust manifold way before the muffler in most cases. This turns a lot of the junk and such in the cars emissions into something less harmful. All cars release a little bit of junk in the air, but newer cars are much better at it than oil burning 3 mpg 70’s carbureted dump trucks in the past for sure. The biggest reason is, most people are gonna have a car in their lifetime here in the US. Or, it’s at least part of their daily lives in the form of a bus or taxi. Garden tools, not so much. Our focus on emissions is mostly on the transportation and power generation sectors in my experience and observation, so things like EFI, efficient cylinder heads, exhaust system airflow, ignition systems, catalytic converters, even the design of the body and transmission that effects pollution are implemented into our cars today. Your dad’s backpack leaf blower on the other hand, is a different story. People want to put gas and oil in it and have it run until it eventually spins a bearing without spark issues, sensor issues, and most obviously, a 15 pound catalytic converter. People want fuel efficient and environment friendly cars more than they do efficient leaf blowers and lawnmowers, so engineers have to make do.

Anonymous 0 Comments

Two stroke engines, usually what you’ll find in something small like that rev a lot higher, burning fuel that much faster. Two stroke motors are also almost always going to be carbureted, which effects fuel economy and emissions to a degree too. Cars use 4 stroke motors, that are usually monitoring fuel with various (and if you work on cars, they seem to be endless and everywhere!) sensors and tuned fuel injection systems that are fairly precise. The big kicker though, is the catalytic converter. The catalytic converter is past the exhaust manifold way before the muffler in most cases. This turns a lot of the junk and such in the cars emissions into something less harmful. All cars release a little bit of junk in the air, but newer cars are much better at it than oil burning 3 mpg 70’s carbureted dump trucks in the past for sure. The biggest reason is, most people are gonna have a car in their lifetime here in the US. Or, it’s at least part of their daily lives in the form of a bus or taxi. Garden tools, not so much. Our focus on emissions is mostly on the transportation and power generation sectors in my experience and observation, so things like EFI, efficient cylinder heads, exhaust system airflow, ignition systems, catalytic converters, even the design of the body and transmission that effects pollution are implemented into our cars today. Your dad’s backpack leaf blower on the other hand, is a different story. People want to put gas and oil in it and have it run until it eventually spins a bearing without spark issues, sensor issues, and most obviously, a 15 pound catalytic converter. People want fuel efficient and environment friendly cars more than they do efficient leaf blowers and lawnmowers, so engineers have to make do.