One week left to apply for grant funding to replace 2-cycle gas-powered lawn care and snow removal equipment with electric-powered at HALF the cost of buying new. The max grant award is $24,000 with a 50% minimum match.

Deadline: Nov 8, 2019

Eligible applicants are small businesses (under 500), and any sized governmental agencies, educational institutions, tribes, or NGOs (e.g., nonprofit or association). Equipment used near populations sensitive to air pollution, environmental justice areas, and in communities with higher air pollution will tend to score highest. 

Replacements can include: snow blowers, chainsaws, pole pruners, lawn mowers, string or hedge trimmers, leaf blowers, and more. Why switch:

• Save money - No need for gas and reduce maintenance costs
• Fewer occurrences of employee injuries
• Much quieter and no smell

Review grant application materials on the MPCA alternative landscaping grants webpage. Past grants have already helped 66 businesses and organizations switch to electric, reducing 185 tons of VOCs, 0.6 tons of nitrogen oxide, and 6.5 tons of fine particulate emissions each year. The use of gasoline-powered landscaping equipment is a significant source of air emissions in urban areas, impacting the health of equipment operators and the populated communities they serve.

Grant success: Ramsey-Washington Metro Watershed District 

RWMWD was pleased with their use of electric-powered landscaping equipment this past summer. They found the equipment to be lighter and much quieter. The string trimmers proved to be just as powerful and a great deal more pleasant than their gas equipment. Charges last about as long as a tank of gas - and with two batteries they are able to rely on them for all day performance. With $1668 in grant funding they were able to reduce air emissions nearly half a ton per year.