Thomas Gounley

TGOUNLEY@NEWS-LEADER.COM

Brandon Jacobsen wrote a business plan for a lawn care company while studying entrepreneurship at Missouri State University, and founded it in 2014, the year he graduated.

For two years, GreenTech Lawn Care wasn't that different from other lawn care companies in Springfield. Weekly or bi-weekly mows comprised the bulk of the business. The company used gas-powered mowers.

As the 2016 season approached, however, Jacobsen and partner John Krygiel, a fellow MSU graduate, decided to make a change.

"We really wanted to look at the environmental impact we were having," Krygiel said.

The pair replaced the gas mowers with electric versions. They figured out a setup so the mower batteries could be recharged with solar power. Prices were raised slightly, and the company stepped up marketing itself as environmentally-friendly.

Jacobsen and Krygiel believe GreenTech is the first company in the state offering lawn mowing that produces zero emissions.

"We haven't found a whole lot" of similar companies, Krygiel said, naming only a couple on the West Coast that he found after research.

Mowing is a rite of the spring and summer months. But it has an environmental impact.

"We just don't think about it," said Barbara Lucks, sustainability officer for the City of Springfield.

A Swedish study released last year found that running a lawn mower for an hour can release nearly the same amount of pollution into the air as a 100-mile car trip. That figure likely varies by model, with newer ones generally running cleaner. The study suggested that catalytic converters be installed on mowers.

Lucks said that the primary local concern with gas-powered vehicles is ground-level ozone, which is created by chemical reactions that take place during the presence of sunlight. Breathing ozone can trigger health problems, especially for the children, elderly and those with asthma.

"Any fossil-fuel powered equipment contributes to air pollution, which contributes to ground-level ozone," Lucks said.

Jacobsen said sustainability was always intended to be a focus of the business, hence the name. When he founded GreenTech, the hope was to use biodiesel made from converted vegetable oil to run the mowers. But that proved difficult to source, so the company turned to traditional fuel to raise capital for the purchase of the electric mowers.

GreenTech has about 40 regular customers, Krygiel said. The majority of those are holdovers from the company's gas-powered days, but the hope is that the new focus will attract new customers.

"We're starting to see more people realize that we're an option out there, but it's definitely gonna take some time," Krygiel said.

Prices for regular lawn care vary based on yard size and other factors. But Jacobsen acknowledged that the company did increase the cost of its services somewhat this year, from $35 to $40 for a one-time mow. Regular customers pay a lower rate.

GreenTech's stand-on mower cost about $16,000, Krygiel said, in comparison to $9,000 or $10,000 for a similar gas-powered version. But with the exception of the truck that tows the mowers around, there's no need for the pump, and the electric mowers have less parts that can get damaged or worn out.

"We looked at it in terms of a long-term payback," Krygiel said.

One thing customers may notice: The electric mower isn't as loud. Krygiel said its roar is about 68 decibels, compared to about 110 for a more traditional mower.

But a focus on electric can also pose a challenge in terms of perception.

"I think there's definitely a perception that it's a cute little mower ... that may not work that well," Krygiel said.

Mean Green Products, the Ohio-based company that manufactures the mowers GreenTech uses, states on its website that "for too long electric products have been associated with underpowered, slow or wimpy."

Mean Green Founder Joe Conrad was planning to work on an electric car eight years ago when his lawnmower broke down, according to Zach Mersch, an inside sales manager for the company. His garage tinkering led to his founding of the company about two years later.

For years, Mersch said, battery capabilities really limited the usefulness of electric mowers. But recent battery advances have changed that. The mowers GreenTech purchased have a run time of seven to eight hours between charges.

While there are a lot of electric trimmers and blowers on the market, Mean Green is the only company that produces electric mowers intended for commercial use, Mersch said. The company has sold about 700 of them.

The company also offers organic fertilization services and rolled a different company that offered solar panel installation under the GreenTech name.

"The eventual goal is to franchise it out. The obvious next place is St. Louis," Krygiel said, noting that's where Jacobsen currently lives and works an unrelated job.