GAS & OIL
According to the US Department of Energy
Mowers consume 1.2 billion gallons of gasoline annually for lawn mowers
Commercial mowing accounts for 35% of this total and is the highest-intensity use.
Large property owners and mowing companies cut lawns, sports fields, golf courses, parks, roadsides, and other grassy areas for 7 hours per day and consume 900 gal to 2,000 gal of fuel annually depending on climate and length of growing season. In addition to gasoline, commercial mowing consumes more than 100 million gallons of diesel annually.
Read the DOE’s Clean Cities Guide for more statistics and data.
THE FUEL MATRIX
Fuel Matrix fuel consumption stats are for ten (10) Los Angeles Gardeners.
Each gardener services 65 to 75 homes per week.
We were able to determine the average number of gallons of gasoline used by each gardener for each piece of equipment on his truck.
NOTE: This does not include the amount of gas the gardeners use for their work trucks to transport themselves and equipment to their job sites.
Here is what we found ...
Gasoline Consumption
Lawnmower
Weekly: 3 - 5 gallons
Monthly: 12 - 20 gallons
Annually: 144 - 240 gallons
String Trimmer (2-stroke)
Weekly: 1.5 - 2 gallons
Monthly: 6 - 8 gallons
Annually: 72 - 96 gallons
Blower (2 & 4-stroke)
Weekly: 3 - 5 gallons
Monthly: 12 - 20 gallons
Annually: 144 - 240 gallons
Hedge Trimmer (2-stroke)
Weekly: .5 - 1 gallons
Monthly: 2 - 4 gallons
Annually: 24 - 48 gallons
LET'S DO THE MATH
Adding only the low-end totals of gasoline use for each gardener
Totals
Weekly: 8 gallons
Monthly: 32 gallons
Annually: 384 gallons
AGZA conservatively estimates there are 30,000 to 35,000 independent gardening crew in Los Angeles County.
- 384 annual gallons x 30,000 gardeners = 11,520,000 gallons
THE COST
11,520,000 x $3.75 per gallon = $43.2 million annual fuel cost for LA County crews
“17 MILLION GALLONS OF FUEL, MOSTLY GASOLINE, ARE SPILLED EACH YEAR WHILE REFUELING LAWN EQUIPMENT. (MORE THAN ALL THE OIL SPILLED
BY THE EXXON VALDEZ)”
