There’s a reason cordless tools are the favorite of contractors and homeowners alike. They provide convenience, safety, quieter operation, easy storage, and eco-friendliness. We’ll review each benefit of battery-powered tools in detail so you understand why people choose them over gas or corded tools.
Battery-powered tools don’t contribute to air pollution in the same way gas-powered tools do. They also don’t require gasoline or oil to function, which reduces the chance of spills that contaminate the environment.
Because of this, California’s green lawn care law bans the sale of new gas-powered equipment in favor of electric tools. Other states and cities may follow in the future.
That’s not to say there aren’t any environmental concerns over battery-powered equipment. The mining and production of lithium batteries is resource-intensive. It also still uses energy to charge the device.
However, in a similar debate over electric versus gas-powered cars, experts at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say electric still beats gas in the long run in terms of overall environmental impact. Despite the high environmental cost upfront, batteries produce lower CO2 emissions over their lifetime.
Unlike their gas-powered counterparts, battery-powered tools don’t produce emissions while you use them. No emissions means no added risk of respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, cancer, or neurological conditions that come with gas-powered equipment.
Another safety feature of battery-powered tools is that they shut off automatically when you take your finger off the trigger. This is much better than gas tools, which can stay running or idle and pose a risk to you and your machine.
Battery-powered equipment also is safer than other electric equipment since it has no cord. Not only are cords tripping hazards but they can get tangled or caught on indoor or outdoor furniture, bringing things crashing down in their wake.
Gas-powered equipment is notorious for its noisy nature. It’s not just annoying — loud lawn mowers and power tools can cause hearing loss over time.
Electric tools significantly cut back on this problem, falling at or below the Center for Disease Control’s recommended noise levels of 85 decibels. When you get a battery-powered tool, your ears and neighbors will thank you.
Battery-powered equipment is easy to take on the go. You can easily move it from your front yard to your backyard (or even another property) without worrying about outlets or extension cords.
Battery-powered equipment also tends to be lighter-weight than gas-powered equipment, though it may be heavier than corded equipment. However, lithium-ion batteries are more lightweight than batteries of the past, and future batteries might be even lighter.
Battery-powered tools are easy to control. With the push of a button, you can turn them on and adjust their speed. This is a welcome relief to anyone who’s struggled with priming, pull cords, or levers.
Storing battery-powered equipment is simple. There are no cords to get in the way or tangle with your other tools. There’s also no need to empty the gas tank, add fuel stabilizer, or change the oil before winter storage — all you need to do to winterize electric lawn equipment is remove the battery and keep it in a dry location away from extreme temperatures.
Your most regular maintenance task (if you can even call it that) is charging the battery. You should also:
While battery-powered tools still require some maintenance, it’s not as time-consuming or as expensive as maintenance for gas-powered tools. Gas tools require you to check or replace the fuel, spark plug, air filter, carburetor, and ignition coil in addition to keeping everything clean.
Because they’re so popular, technology in the cordless tool market is rapidly improving and expanding. Battery-powered tools used to be heavier with shorter battery lives and less power. However, tool manufacturers are innovating to create lighter, more powerful batteries with longer lives and shorter charging times.
Battery-powered tools have several disadvantages.
New and improved options come out all the time, but you can check out our current favorites in these articles:
It depends on how often you use the tool, but you typically need to replace the battery every two to five years. Some can last as long as 15 to 20 years.
The replacement cost of batteries in outdoor power tools varies from $40 to $600. For more details, check out our lithium-ion battery pricing guide.
You will get efficient and thoughtful service from Senix.
Battery-powered tools have many benefits that contribute to their popularity. Their convenience, eco-friendliness, and safety are all reasons you may choose battery-powered tools over gas or corded tools.
If thinking about tools gives you a headache, don’t worry. Lawn Love can connect you with a local lawn care pro who already has the best tools for the job at their fingertips.
New developments in renewable energy are making headlines and inspiring hope in communities worldwide, from a remote Arctic village (link resides outside ibm.com) working to harness solar and wind power under challenging conditions to a U.S. Air Force base (link resides outside ibm.com) planning an advanced, utility-scale geothermal power system.
As much of the world grapples with mitigating the effects of climate change and global warming, innovation and advancements in renewable energy have emerged as a bright spot. Solar energy, wind energy, hydropower, geothermal energy and biomass energy generation is better for the planet than the burning of fossil fuels including oil, natural gas and coal.
But for all of the advantages of renewable energy, its development and use has disadvantages, too. Let’s take a look at both.
The advantages of renewable energy power sources are wide-ranging, and some are more obvious than others.
One of the main benefits of renewable energy sources like the sun, wind and water is that they will never run out. In contrast, non-renewable resources are not only finite, but cost more as their availability declines and require more extreme extraction methods with greater environmental impacts.
The goal of the clean energy transition is decarbonization. Carbon dioxide emissions reached 11.2 gigatonnes (Gt) in from oil alone, whereas renewable energy generation emits little to no carbon emissions to power homes, cars and businesses.
The burning of fossil fuels, like coal, releases airborne pollutants such as nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide, while the mining of these resources can result in water pollution and damage animal habitats. Using renewable energy in place of fossil fuels can reduce these pollutants and help mitigate risks to human health and natural environments.
Renewable energy provides for stronger energy security by opening up new opportunities for domestic energy production, thereby reducing reliance on foreign-sourced energy supply. For example, since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, European countries have sought to reduce their imports of Russian oil and gas. In , domestic renewable energy production in Europe rose to account for a record 44% of the EU’s electricity mix while imports from Russia declined, helping build a more stable, resilient power grid.
For certain types of renewable energy sources, the maintenance and maintenance costs of their infrastructure are minimal. Solar photovoltaic systems, for example, generally don’t have moving parts and can last 25 years or more with little maintenance. Hydroelectric power plants typically have low operating costs (link resides outside ibm.com) and require little maintenance as well, with long-lasting equipment that can remain in operation for decades.
When it comes to costs, renewable energy sources once compared unfavorably to fossil fuels. But as fossil fuel prices rise renewable energy has emerged as an affordable alternative energy option. An estimated 96% of new utility-scale solar and wind power projects had lower generation costs than new coal and natural gas plants. As more renewable energy resources are integrated into power grids, businesses are also implementing energy management programs to optimize energy usage and reduce overall energy costs.
While both clean energy and fossil fuel industries have seen job growth in recent years, growth has been markedly faster in the former. As a result, clean energy roles now account for more than half (link resides outside ibm.com) of the 67 million jobs in the global energy sector. Such growth is fueling demand for additional workers and retraining for existing fossil fuel workers to transition to the renewable energy industry.
For all the celebrated benefits of renewable energy, the sector has some downsides as well. Understanding the disadvantages of renewable energy can help organizations better plan its deployment. Here are some of the cons of renewable energy projects today:
Shifting to renewable energy technologies saves money in the long run but component costs and initial costs for set-up can be expensive. For example, small businesses can expect to pay USD 100,000 or more (link resides outside ibm.com) for commercial solar installations, depending on their energy needs. However, legislation for incentives, tax credits and various rebates can help offset these costs.
Most renewable energy power generation is location dependent—solar farms require unobstructed sunlight, hydropower requires water movement, wind farms require open spaces and traditional geothermal power requires proximity to sources of hot water. In many cases, renewable energy systems require a lot of space—more than traditional power stations. Research conducted by the ICF Climate Center found that large-scale renewable energy installations require 10 times more land (link resides outside ibm.com) than coal- and natural gas-fired power plants.
Renewable electricity generation is vulnerable to weather conditions: solar power is susceptible to cloudy days, hydropower to droughts and wind power to calm days. As such, guaranteeing the amount of energy produced at any given time is a challenge. To help companies adapt to this volatility, solutions such as IBM Environmental Intelligence use sensors, geospatial data, advanced analytics, machine learning, artificial intelligence (AI) and weather data to generate day-ahead wind and solar forecasts.
Due to the intermittent nature of renewable power, batteries are required to collect energy during peak production periods for distribution in a controlled, consistent manner during periods of low- to non-production. Energy storage systems to support utility-scale applications are costly but technology is being developed to support more affordable long-term storage.
Supply chain hurdles are hindering the installation of renewable energy projects. According to a report by McKinsey, project developers face three main challenges (link resides outside ibm.com): access to raw materials and rare earth metals amid a projected shortage; access to the talent and machinery necessary; and little supplier diversification for critical components. For example, in the case of polysilicon, a material used in solar panels, 79% of global capacity is concentrated in China, making the solar PV industry vulnerable to disruptions in that country.
Although solar and wind power emit no harmful emissions during power generation, the manufacturing, installation and transportation of renewable energy equipment does often produce greenhouse gas emissions. Additionally, waste products are created during asset production process and disposal, with wind turbine blades and solar panels taking up space in landfills.
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