Success Stories - Personal

Officer Donavan C. McCoy, Stockton:

"I wanted to take the time to thank you and your office for presenting the Clean Green Yard Machine program to our Valley. I participated and turned my gas lawnmower in using your voucher and purchased a Newton Electric mower over the phone. Even though I did my homework in advance on this mower, I was still worried that this new electric rechargeable mower would not have the power my gas mower has.

The ordering of the mower was very easy and within one week I had the new mower delivered to my garage. When I mowed my lawn for the first time using the electric, I realized two things. 1) It does not have as much power as my gas mower, and 2) My gas mower had too much power for the job it was doing. This electric lawnmower has plenty of power to mow my lawn, and my neighbor’s lawn (he had to try it out) and still had plenty of charge to keep going. I am very satisfied to say the least and in my opinion, this program is a huge success in the fight to make California and the San Joaquin Valley greener.

I’m not certain how long you will offer this promotion, but if anyone you know has reservations about getting rid of their gas mower, have them give me a call anytime.

Thank you very much. Good Job people!"

Tom Cotter, Co-founder, www.GreenFresno.org , Fresno:

"My wife and I each drive cars that have been converted to run on waste vegetable oil which 1) eliminates our dependence on foreign oil, 2) removes our need to fuel up at a gas station and put harmful VOC's into the air and 3) reduce the amount of pollutants coming out of our tailpipes.

About 4 years ago we traded in our gas mower for an electric one. Each weekend, about 54 million Americans mow their lawns, using 800 million gallons of gas per year and producing tons of air pollutants. Garden equipment engines, which have had unregulated emissions until very recently, emit high levels of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, producing up to 5% of the nation's air pollution and a good deal more in metropolitan areas. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), a traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles.

We have also installed a solar electric system on our home which has reduced our greenhouse gas emissions by 3,560 pounds each year. This reduces most of PG&E's power to our home during peak demand times.

Hope these things are helpful to others!"

Shawn Ferreira, Fresno:

"I ride my bike 18 miles a day to and from work. Bike riding is great because you get fresh air and are able to wake up in the morning. "

Misha Scovill, Fresno:

"My brother recently bought his first house. He works in downtown Fresno, so instead of buying a house in the popular part (north end) of town he purchased a condo close to downtown so that he could continue to bike or walk to work every day. This allows him and his wife to share one car, which is saves them a lot of money, plus he gets exercise every day even if he doesn't feel like going to the gym after work. "

Lucinda Roth, Fresno:

"My husband and I replaced all our appliances with energy efficient ones, bought an energy efficient home, and use a clothes line for drying. We did this for air quality, but found HAL also saves us quite a bit on utilities."

Don Hunsaker, Fresno:

"We use clotheslines to dry clothes instead of a dryer, do ‘no-drive’ days on weekends (about 80 percent of our weekends have no car trips), compost 100 percent of our green waste (we use a worm composter), grow our own fruit and vegetables and buy only locally-grown produce, and carpool in a Prius for most commutes."