Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation Commissioner Bob Martineau, TDEC Deputy Commissioner Brock Hill, and Senator Bo Watson this month unveiled new electric golf course equipment at the Bear Trace at Harrison Bay Golf Course.
The event showcased the new maintenance equipment while demonstrating its positive environmental impacts and energy savings. Attendees included members of the community, golfing enthusiasts, power industry representatives, equipment manufacturers, and local park supporters.
Using funds provided by the Clean Tennessee Energy Grant program, the Bear Trace at Harrison Bay replaced gasoline-powered golf course equipment with battery-powered options including greens and approach mowers, bunker rakes, greens rollers, and utility vehicles. Equipment manufacturers represented at the event included Jacobsen, Smithco, Tru Turf, Toro Workman, and Club Car.
Overall, the new equipment will provide an estimated 300 percent decrease in annual operating expenses and a 30 percent reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. Coupled with the overall economic and environmental benefits, the electric equipment is virtually silent when it operates, minimizing noise that could disturb both golfers and wildlife. Additionally, there are no fluids to manage, such as hydraulic or other automotive fluids, reducing potential impacts to vegetation and ground water, while also reducing staff resources.
“This initiative is the first of its kind at a Tennessee State Parks golf course, and we’re thrilled to support the electric equipment initiative with funds from the Clean Tennessee Energy Grant program,” said Martineau.
According to TDEC’s Office of Sustainable Practices, the project has similar benefits as those touted for electric vehicles, further multiplied in the fact that lawn mowers and other small engines do not have the same pollution control measures required of larger pieces of equipment with internal combustion engines. The first EPA requirements for lawnmowers began in 1997, and much of the replaced equipment at Harrison Bay predated those pollution reduction measures. Although limited data is available, a 2005 study by the University of Florida reports that “gasoline-powered mowers result in as much as 1,500 times more carbon monoxide, 31 times more hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides and 18 times more carbon dioxide than the electric varieties.”
Funding for the Harrison Bay project comes from an April 2011 Clean Air Act settlement with the Tennessee Valley Authority. Under the Consent Decree, Tennessee will receive $26.4 million over five years to fund clean air programs in the state (at approximately $5.25 million per year). As part of the grant program’s initial offering, a total of $5.3 million in Clean Energy Grants was awarded in 2012 to a variety of projects within state government, municipalities, utilities, state colleges and universities and communities throughout the state.
For information about the park and golf course, visit www.tnstateparks.com/HarrisonBay.
Source: Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation