{"id":17996,"date":"2024-11-06T08:13:32","date_gmt":"2024-11-06T14:13:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/?p=17996"},"modified":"2024-11-06T08:17:05","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T14:17:05","slug":"sustainability-spotlight-grounds-electric-equipment-pilot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/2024\/11\/06\/sustainability-spotlight-grounds-electric-equipment-pilot\/","title":{"rendered":"Sustainability Spotlight: LPS Grounds Electric Equipment Pilot"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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November\u2019s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on the LPS Grounds Department! Two Grounds teams participated in a pilot of electric landscaping equipment over the summer, allowing LPS Operations to collect valuable data and feedback on how well they work.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The <\/span>Grounds Department<\/span><\/a><\/span> takes care of a wide variety of outdoor maintenance at sites districtwide, including landscaping and lawn care. To carry out those responsibilities, the department maintains a well-stocked inventory of power tools and larger equipment.<\/span><\/p>

In keeping with district efforts to electrify buildings and reduce LPS <\/span>white fleet<\/span><\/span><\/a> emissions, Grounds equipment emerged as the next opportunity to pursue a more sustainable alternative.<\/span><\/p>

In May 2024, LPS Sustainability worked with Grounds Superintendent Clark Liesveld to research the electric equipment options available and put together a plan for the pilot.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Together, the two departments decided to start out with only handheld tools, and to stick with a single brand for all purchases to maximize convenience for the participating teams. <\/span><\/p>

A general maintenance crew tested out two string trimmers and a handheld blower, and a tree-trimming crew worked with a chainsaw and a pole pruner. Both teams also received four rechargeable batteries and a battery charging station.<\/span><\/p>

Over the course of the summer, LPS Sustainability collected feedback from each team to see how the equipment performed.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Overall, Grounds team members said that the electric tools were both reliable and effective. Respondents also mentioned that the piloted equipment was lighter-weight, quieter and easier to start up than what they had used previously.<\/span><\/p>

These evaluations line up with some well-documented benefits of electric power tools. Compared to small engines that run on a mixture of gasoline and oil, <\/span>battery-powered equipment<\/span><\/span><\/a> reduces air and noise pollution, is safer to maneuver and requires less maintenance.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cThe main benefit is not breathing in chainsaw exhaust. It's also convenient to not have to pull start a saw for every cut when I\u2019m up in the lift truck bucket.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPilot Survey Respondent<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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While the electric tools had the power and precision needed to get the job done, they did not stay running as long as their gas-powered counterparts. Crew members would occasionally be caught on the far side of a site and need to return to their truck to swap in a fresh battery, or pick up where they left off with the gas-powered equipment they had also brought along.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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This challenge led to additional research and consultation with the crews to identify and purchase a backpack specifically designed to carry extra batteries. <\/span><\/p>

With these backups at the ready, the pilot\u2019s primary pain point has since been resolved.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\n\t\t\t\t\u201cBattery life wasn\u2019t as big of an issue once my route was [prepped for trimming]. I do like the products more than gas at this point.\u201d\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPilot Survey Respondent<\/cite>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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It will take more time and planning to add further electric equipment into the Grounds Department\u2019s inventory, but this pilot has provided invaluable feedback towards making that happen. <\/span><\/p>

We are grateful to and impressed by the wide range of people within LPS Operations who took this idea and turned it into reality!<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November\u2019s Sustainability Spotlight is shining on the LPS Grounds Department! Two Grounds teams participated in a pilot of electric landscaping equipment over the summer, allowing LPS Operations to collect valuable data and feedback on how well they work. The Grounds Department takes care of a wide variety of outdoor maintenance at sites districtwide, including landscaping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12136,"featured_media":18002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17996","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/files\/2024\/11\/Grounds-Pilot.png?fit=630%2C420&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5XcXY-4Gg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17996","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12136"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17996"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17996\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18029,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17996\/revisions\/18029"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17996"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17996"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/home.lps.org\/sustainability\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17996"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}