Congress has cut federal funding for public media — a $3.4 million loss for LAist. We count on readers like you to protect our nonprofit newsroom. Become a monthly member and sustain local journalism.
UC Riverside engineering students build emissions-cutting device for lawn mowers
Listen
• 3:40
The device team NOx-Out built to attach to lawnmowers to cut emissions.
()
If you grew up in Southern California in the bad smog days, you know how much better the air is today. The credit, in large part, goes to smog-control devices on internal combustion engines – well, most internal combustion engines.
Lawn mowers and leaf blowers still don’t have them. But a team of UC Riverside students just might change that.
They’ve built a small air pollution control device that can be attached to just about any lawn mower engine. Without it, that engine could pollute up to 11 times more than a modern car engine, but with it, we can all breathe easier.
Jonya Blahut, one of the UC Riverside engineering students who invented the device, spoke with KPCC.
Support for LAist comes from
The idea for the project:
Blahut and her team jump-started the project about a year ago when one of their friends pointed out that lawn mowers create more pollution than cars.
“One day, we were just hanging out doing some engineering stuff and one of our engineering teammates asked if we knew how much small off-road engines polluted compared to cars. And when she told us, we initially didn’t believe her,” Blahut said. “We did some more research and we found out that it’s true...so we wanted to do something about that."
How it works:
The team used a selective catalytic reducer – technology that can be found in diesel engines—and retrofitted it for gasoline engines in order to make the device effective.
“It’s a three-step process, and when those three steps are put together, it simply reduces the emissions that are coming out of the lawn mower,” Blahut explained.
The group tested out 10 prototypes before they got the device to work. Below is a video that explains their efforts:
Support for LAist comes from
Retail Price- $30:
Blahut said the device would retail for $30.
“When we started this, we not only wanted it to be sustainable, but we wanted it to be cheap; we wanted the every-day person to be using it,” she said.
The team is already in talks with several lawn mower and engine manufacturers to get the device on the market.
What’s next? – Make the product even better:
“We’re looking into ways to make it even cheaper… and making it available not only for lawn mowers, but for all types of different off-road engines,” explained Blahut.
Support for LAist comes from
Leaf blowers, hedge trimmers, snowmobiles are next in that line-up.
As Editor-in-Chief of our newsroom, I’m extremely proud of the work our top-notch journalists are doing here at LAist. We’re doing more hard-hitting watchdog journalism than ever before — powerful reporting on the economy, elections, climate and the homelessness crisis that is making a difference in your lives. At the same time, it’s never been more difficult to maintain a paywall-free, independent news source that informs, inspires, and engages everyone.
Simply put, we cannot do this essential work without your help. Federal funding for public media has been clawed back by Congress and that means LAist has lost $3.4 million in federal funding over the next two years. So we’re asking for your help. LAist has been there for you and we’re asking you to be here for us.
We rely on donations from readers like you to stay independent, which keeps our nonprofit newsroom strong and accountable to you.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, press freedom is at the core of keeping our nation free and fair. And as the landscape of free press changes, LAist will remain a voice you know and trust, but the amount of reader support we receive will help determine how strong of a newsroom we are going forward to cover the important news from our community.
Please take action today to support your trusted source for local news with a donation that makes sense for your budget.
Thank you for your generous support and believing in independent news.
Chip in now to fund your local journalism
(
LAist
)
Trending on LAist
-
If approved, the more than 62-acre project would include 50 housing lots and a marina less than a mile from Jackie and Shadow's famous nest overlooking the lake. -
The U.S. Supreme Court lifted limits on immigration sweeps in Southern California, overturning a lower court ruling that prohibited agents from stopping people based on their appearance.
-
Censorship has long been controversial. But lately, the issue of who does and doesn’t have the right to restrict kids’ access to books has been heating up across the country in the so-called culture wars.
-
With less to prove than LA, the city is becoming a center of impressive culinary creativity.
-
Nearly 470 sections of guardrailing were stolen in the last fiscal year in L.A. and Ventura counties.
-
Monarch butterflies are on a path to extinction, but there is a way to support them — and maybe see them in your own yard — by planting milkweed.
Best of LAist