Leaf blowers have been a contentious topic at Linfield for some time, with many students often taking to platforms such as YikYak to complain about them. For many, they are used at times that many students say disrupt their sleep, learning and other activities.
In an email statement, Associate Vice President for Facilities Administration Allison Horn responded to many of these complaints, explaining the reasoning behind the schedule followed by facilities.
“When fully staffed, our grounds team consists of seven full-time groundskeepers who maintain 189 acres of grounds, including grass, sports fields and planting beds,” Horn said. “As well as five miles of sidewalks and more than 450,000 square feet of parking areas.”
450,000 square feet is equivalent to the size of over ten football fields.
Horn said that because of the staffing levels and the size of the area that the groundskeepers cover, commercial leaf blowers, the ones students complain about, are needed to keep the campus clear of debris and looking nice.
“Due to the substantial acreage that requires care, the vast quantity of leaves and limited personnel/work hours available,” Horn said. “The solution continues to be the gas leaf blowers which have the drawback of the noise created by their use.”
Leaf blower operators are provided protective ear coverings to prevent hearing damage from prolonged use of the leaf blowers. Horn also added that electric leaf blowers aren’t considered a worthwhile investment and change from their gas-powered counterparts.
“Commercial battery-powered leaf blower equipment is only about 15dB (decibels) quieter than the gas counterparts,” Horn said. “Which is not yet an acceptable trade-off.”
The trade-off Horn is talking about is that the increased investment for the leaf blower and related equipment, the weight of the leaf blowers, implementation of a charging grid and the lower performance electric leaf blowers have over their gas-powered counterparts.
According to Horn, the A-weighted decibels (dBA) of the leaf blowers currently used by Linfield are in the 75-78 range. According to a chart from Yale Environmental Health and Safety, this would put Linfield leaf blowers at roughly the same level as a vacuum cleaner (75 dBA). A reduction of 15 decibels would lower leaf blowers’ sound to the lower decibel range of a normal conversation.
It is, specifically, disruptive to classes across campus. Dr. Kevin Curry of Journalism and Media Studies said he was teaching a class on the morning of March 12 when he had to stop class, specifically because the leaf blowers were drowning out the audio of a podcast he was using to teach students.
“It’s not the first time that’s happened,” Curry said.
Similar problems have been reported across campus and are especially prevalent in classes located on the bottom level of buildings.
Horn also addressed environmental concerns with the use of gas-powered leaf blowers.
“After beginning several years ago,” Horn said, “Linfield Facilities Services has now replaced all of the old 2-cycle blowers with STIHL 4-MIX blowers that deliver low exhaust emissions, increased fuel efficiency, lower noise and decreased maintenance.”
Horn closed by saying that there is hope that the switch to electric leaf blowers can be made in the future.
“It will probably be a few years until the commercial electric technology and equipment will be a realistic solution for our campus,” Horn said. “The technology will get there eventually, but it’s not there yet.”
While leaf blowers remain a contentious topic on campus, the current plan seems here to stay.
However, leaf blowers may become less invasive to the learning environment as the technology improves.
