Is AB-1346 The Beginning To The End Of The GARDEN TRACTOR?

[Captain Dirty]

To keep adding variables to a "cord" of wood

The Mass. Div. of Standards says:

​

Generally speaking, you can buy cordwood or firewood. Cordwood offered for sale must be four feet in length. The term “firewood” means wood cut to any length of less than four feet and more than eight inches. Wood can only be advertised and sold in terms of cubic feet or cubic meters (for instance 128 cubic feet of wood).
When buying wood, avoid buying from a seller using terms such as “truckload,” “face cord,” or “pile” because these terms have no legally defined meaning.
To ensure you have received the correct quantity , the wood must be closely stacked and aligned in the same parallel direction, not cross-stacked. To determine the exact quantity of the wood after stacking, multiply the length times the width times the height of the stack to get the cubic foot content of the delivery.

BUT, who stacks the wood makes a difference. A woodcutter who was paid by the cord claimed he could stack a cord of cordwood "so a dog could run through it." An old New Englander told me a cord stacked outdoors for seasoning should be stacked " so a squirrel could run through it but the cat chasing the squirrel could not." My grandfather, who wanted as much split, seasoned stove wood (12" long by 3" x 4" max) as possible inside his woodshed, wanted it stacked "so a mouse can't get through it."

 

[Looking4new]

My only question is how much electric power/hydro will it cost to recharge these electric tractors when clearing snow in winter?

 

[DonaldP]

My only question is how much electric power/hydro will it cost to recharge these electric tractors when clearing snow in winter?

Exactly… electric has substantial front-end and back-end costs that many aren’t privy to.

“Power your tractor by the sun” is full of carbon footprints in all the devices that it takes to actually make it happen. Our technology can produce the components, but there isn’t just a financial side to it. There is a manufacturing carbon footprint that is pretty high compared to the benefit of the “less carbon” produced by using it.
How much the carbon savings are is the real answer.

Additionally some will say it’s worth returning your current fuel burning tractors and buy solar! But in order to do that you would need to include a portion of the life left in the fuel burning tractor you are retiring and estimate the carbon it took to build in what’s left of its life…

So in the end it’s not just another “no brainer”.

 

[grsthegreat]

my brother lives in Fresno, and tells me if he burns wood in his fireplace the neighbors report him.....

my brother in law was screamed at by his neighbor because he was smoking a brisket. they threatened to call the cops on him...he lives in calif too.

i feel so sorry for the entire state.

that reminds me, i have to go smoke some fillets tomorrow. i best go check my supply of pellets. and its cold and windy today..my fireplace is roaring away nicely burning my free wood.


ultrarunner, when are you going to move out like all your neighbors are doing.

 

[ultrarunner]

The million dollar question…

These days I try to visit my home to pick up mail and water most days but spend most nights in my childhood home caring for mom…

"Concerned" citizens ever ready to call authorities is reality here… using a gas string trimmer, grading fire break with dozer, cutting a tree with permit in hand or getting called out at midnight to work have all generated visits from authorities.

It’s why I like my little slice of WA so much… neighbors live and let live... and don’t have the Bay Area mindset with billboards urging reporting anonymously someone using their woodstove…

Downside is the humidity of Western Washington is very unfriendly to collector cars... had mold develop on leather interior in spacious dry shop...

A few years ago I was looking at a restored 55 Thunderbird and two women in a Volvo with a Coexist bumper sticker pull up and motion me over.

I said it's a beauty isn't it and then I got an earful on how old cars need to banned from the roads and Henry Ford dyed in wool anti-Semite... only in Marin county or maybe California?

Owner was leaving State...

What I don’t get is how or why California still has 36 of the nations most expensive zip codes???

 

[DonaldP]

The million dollar question…

These days I try to visit my home to pick up mail and water most days but spend most nights in my childhood home caring for mom…

Neighbors ever ready to call authorities is reality here… using a gas string trimmer, grading fire break with dozer, cutting a tree with permit in hand or getting called out at midnight to work have all generated visits from authorities.

It’s why I like my little slice of WA so much… neighbors live and let live... and don’t have the Bay Area mindset with billboards urging reporting anonymously someone using their woodstove…

Downside is the humidity of Western Washington is very unfriendly to collector cars... had mold develop on leather interior in spacious dry shop...

A few years ago I was looking at a restored 55 Thunderbird and two women in a Volvo with a Coexist bumper sticker pull up and motion me over.

I said it's a beauty isn't it and then I got an earful on how old cars need to banned from the roads and Henry Ford dyed in wool anti-Semite... only in Marin county or maybe California?

Owner was leaving State...

What I don’t get is how or why California still has 36 of the nations most expensive zip codes???

It’s amazing how NONE of what you detail in this post has ever been communicated to those next in line.

 

[ultrarunner]

It’s amazing how NONE of what you detail in this post has ever been communicated to those next in line.

Just about all the "New" buyers are expats from San Francisco so they already know the drill but East Bay gives you more space for the money...

Another way to put it is a lot depends on prospective.

Just like the Euro migration escaping poverty in the depression...

They were astounded the poorest of the poor fleeing dust bowl conditions mostly did so by car.... anyone owning any kind of car from where they came from was rich!

As for crime stats easy enough for anyone to look up...

 

[GeneV]

...A few years ago I was looking at a restored 55 Thunderbird and two women in a Volvo with a Coexist bumper sticker pull up and motion me over...

I find the owners of said bumper stickers tend to very much live a life of paradox to that.

 

[DonaldP]

Just about all the "New" buyers are expats from San Francisco so they already know the drill but East Bay gives you more space for the money...

Another way to put it is a lot depends on prospective.

Just like the Euro migration escaping poverty in the depression...

They were astounded the poorest of the poor fleeing dust bowl conditions mostly did so by car.... anyone owning any kind of car from where they came from was rich!

As for crime stats easy enough for anyone to look up...

My reply was speaking about the next in line for states adopting the over reaching aspects that those on the west coast may be experiencing.

 

[ultrarunner]

West Coast… i.e.California, Oregon and Washington tend to be more alike then one would think…

 

[amhicks21]

Every time a technology becomes obsolete or prohibitive, people find reasons to complain. Like it or not, we cant burn fossil fuels forever at the rate we currently are and small engines are by far the dirtiest and easiest to replace. The market needs an incentive to develope electric CUTs, UTVs and other small equipment. im pretty sure that if tesla can build a car with a 300 mile range and 1000 peak hp, the equipment manufacturers can come up with some really good stuff. They actually already are and despite being in their first attempts, they already seem pretty good from what ive seen. Ive been an equipment operator and truck driver for over 20 years and I have no loyalty to fossil fuel powered equipment. I wont miss the noise, the smell, the constant fluid and filter changes, cold starts... etc. The future is electric and im glad to be around to see how it advances.

 

[ultrarunner]

The missing link…

Buy in good faith for fire suppression work legally required by order of Fire Marshall in 2020 and several months later a law is passed making it illegal to even fire it up…

$450 commercial grade ECHO handle bar Brush Cutter made illegal with the stroke of a pen… and this is just the beginning.

 

[kenmbz]

We can't expect city based government (or most gov) to understand repercussions of the laws.
This is why the tax law is so overwhelmingly complex.
I think we do need to push away from two stokes long term, and it seems the manufacturers are trying to do that already without the gov help.
Which brands don't produce battery operated equipment today, not many.

We will start seeing modifications to the law, and it will balloon up, like other less thought out laws, to thousands of pages and modifications to help the lobbyists.

This is what politicians do for a living....

 

[DonaldP]

Every time a technology becomes obsolete or prohibitive, people find reasons to complain. Like it or not, we cant burn fossil fuels forever at the rate we currently are and small engines are by far the dirtiest and easiest to replace. The market needs an incentive to develope electric CUTs, UTVs and other small equipment. im pretty sure that if tesla can build a car with a 300 mile range and 1000 peak hp, the equipment manufacturers can come up with some really good stuff. They actually already are and despite being in their first attempts, they already seem pretty good from what ive seen. Ive been an equipment operator and truck driver for over 20 years and I have no loyalty to fossil fuel powered equipment. I wont miss the noise, the smell, the constant fluid and filter changes, cold starts... etc. The future is electric and im glad to be around to see how it advances.

Awesome post!!!

I think you have the basics covered here. I don’t believe that there is an overwhelming fight against equipment that operates on anything other than fossil fuels just because they are.

I do believe however there is a fear that during the transition period of the next 10 to 30 years, there may be instability in both fuel and electric equipment that may be injected or planned (politics) over technology driven.

All of that impacting the resources and other things associated with those changes as far as capability, technology advancement, and viability to manage the kinds of work that we need this kind of equipment to perform for us.

That could be frightening for businesses that need assurances that investments in their businesses ability to work won’t be disrupted or require and uncontrolled chain of unexpected expenditures along with other unintended consequences.

“Pushing” technology could directly relate to the future costs non-operators/owners might experience when needing that kind of work done. (contractors, homeowners, and businesses).

Early adopters generally experience the highest costs.

And that’s where we (everyone here that’s interested in tractors and the ancillary equipment that supports them and the things we do with them), sit.

You and I are at the gates of change here, early adopters of the technologies that will usher in a paradigm shift in the fundamental aspects of everything we do as humans. I agree with you whole heartedly … this is a great time to be here!!!!

There is no stopping valid technology. That’s been proven.

Maybe it’s the breakneck speed that more liberal states are moving at that scares the folks in the drivers seats or those contemplating investing in this type of equipment.

Pushing technology faster than its attached resources are capable of delivering may be the angst that creates negative feedback at least in this scenario. Spending just as much, if not more, on this technology with a reduction in “required” power levels or duration is a scary proposition.

I have not seen comparable equipment in the riding lawnmower arena yet… so I can’t say if I feel comfortable in that direction.

I plead ignorance on many things including most technologies (but mostly Math!!)

But I think the human mind is capable of a lot of stuff, and one of those things we are very capable of is recognizing the fear of the unknown, that it is a real thing in our lives.

The stock market moves to that drumbeat every single day…

Then having someone push that fear, or agenda at breakneck speed into our personal world without proven experience to back it up. All without other positives to ease our concerns.

True we are grownups, we need to put on our big boy (or girl, or LBTQ) pants for this.

But at what short term risk?

 

[DonaldP]

We can't expect city based government (or most gov) to understand repercussions of the laws.
This is why the tax law is so overwhelmingly complex.
I think we do need to push away from two stokes long term, and it seems the manufacturers are trying to do that already without the gov help.
Which brands don't produce battery operated equipment today, not many.

We will start seeing modifications to the law, and it will balloon up, like other less thought out laws, to thousands of pages and modifications to help the lobbyists.

This is what politicians do for a living....

Another great post!!!

awesome!

 

[ultrarunner]

I wonder how folks would react if the ban applied to cars?

Buy a brand new car off the Dealer showroom and 6 months later learn while still under warranty it is against the law to even start the motor...

As a side note the captain of the local Fire House said as policy they are looking the other way as fire prevention is their mission and law enforcement will not respond to property crime as it is...

My problem as someone that follows the rules is now being an outlaw even if not enforced... at the moment.

 

[GeneV]

I was getting my mower repaired a little bit ago, it was at one of the busiest small engine repair places in my area, the one commercial landscapers around here send their equipment to. So I was talking to the guys at the service desk over there, mentioned this CA small engine thing and how it will effect commercial landscapers, was really surprised by the response!

Here's an example of how this would affect commercial landscapers:

Quiet, and no hot engine/exhaust to deal with.

Meanwhile, this was me mulching leaves yesterday with my Bradley stander mower:

 

[DonaldP]

I was getting my mower repaired a little bit ago, it was at one of the busiest small engine repair places in my area, the one commercial landscapers around here send their equipment to. So I was talking to the guys at the service desk over there, mentioned this CA small engine thing and how it will effect commercial landscapers, was really surprised by the response!

Here's an example of how this would affect commercial landscapers:

Quiet, and no hot engine/exhaust to deal with.

Meanwhile, this was me mulching leaves yesterday with my Bradley stander mower:

Omg!!! This is great!!!

Cost?

 

[DonaldP]

I was getting my mower repaired a little bit ago, it was at one of the busiest small engine repair places in my area, the one commercial landscapers around here send their equipment to. So I was talking to the guys at the service desk over there, mentioned this CA small engine thing and how it will effect commercial landscapers, was really surprised by the response!

Here's an example of how this would affect commercial landscapers:

Quiet, and no hot engine/exhaust to deal with.

Meanwhile, this was me mulching leaves yesterday with my Bradley stander mower:

no question it has the power it needs for grass sans maybe a limited use time for a business.

I wonder how long one of those battery sets will keep the BH92 backhoe on my Kubota running ?

 

[DonaldP]

Omg!!! This is great!!!

Cost?

View attachment 721281

I was getting my mower repaired a little bit ago, it was at one of the busiest small engine repair places in my area, the one commercial landscapers around here send their equipment to. So I was talking to the guys at the service desk over there, mentioned this CA small engine thing and how it will effect commercial landscapers, was really surprised by the response!

Here's an example of how this would affect commercial landscapers:

Quiet, and no hot engine/exhaust to deal with.

Meanwhile, this was me mulching leaves yesterday with my Bradley stander mower:

With respect to time in the seat (hours of use per charge) on an electric tractor with backhoe… or grapple or ROTO tiller…

I would venture to say that they would need to calculate available use time in a backhoe as “cubic feet removed”? Or “amount of digging” Vs “amount of spoil relocation” - which would be two entirely different aspects of the amount of power used in a backhoe scenario.

maybe the same for a grapple or a ROTO tiller… idleing time Vs actual pull force which would combine what the implement is drawing plus what the tractor is drawing.

Then what of the cab versions?

What about the battery power needed to heat and cool a cab?

Hmmm it gets curiouser and curiouser …