California To Ban Gas-Powered Generators And Mowers As Early As 2024
California is banning the sale of some internal combustion devices. Machines on the list include generators, lawn equipment, and pressure washers. The Governor of the state, Gavin Newsom, signed the new legislation that orders regulators to prohibit the sale of small, dirty, inefficient, polluting off-road engines
This law hastens and puts a deadline on rules that the California Air Resources Board were already working on. Now, the agency has until July 1st to adopt the rules. The new regulations are going to apply to engines made on or after January 1st, 2024 but that date is subject to chance based on many factors. The law also states that regulators will be obligated to rebate to incentivize the switch to higher-tech equipment. cost of switching equipment. $30 million in California state funds have been allocated for the project.
As is usually the case, the innovation starts out west and trickles back east. Its only a matter of (a short amount of) time before the majority of the states in the Union follow California’s lead.
While this move alone will not stop rapid climate change, California state officials point to the fact that a 2017 Toyota Camry would have to travel 1100 miles to put out the same level of pollution as a gas-powered leaf blower does when running for just 1 hour. To put things into perspective, the state estimates that there are almost 17 million of these devices running within its borders.
