After a night of heavy snowfall in our neighborhood, the air smells like gasoline.  Nourishing Words reported that according to the EPA, running a snow blower for an hour can equal the emissions of an average car driving 70 miles.  There are electric and new lower emission snow blowers on the market, but snow blowers are expensive, and replacing something that still works just because the emissions rate is high isn’t an option for many homeowners.

In areas where there aren’t as much snow on a regular basis, pulling out the old snow shovel may be the easy answer, but in the snow belt, a shoveling can easily equal back injury or worse.  According to CBS News, “The average shovel loaded with 16 pounds of snow ends up moving 192 pounds of snow if you load your shovel about 12 times a minute. That’s almost 2,000 pounds being lifted in just over 10 minutes!”

I haven’t had the opportunity try the Snow Wovel yet, but I did have a lovely chat with Mark from Snow Wovel, and I think it might be a good thing to look into if you’re struggling with balancing the cost of emissions with the risk of injury when it comes to snow removal.

The Snow Wovel works on a fulcrum, making it easier to move larger quantities of snow faster.  And, when you’re moving snow with the Snow Wovel, you can use your thighs, triceps, and shoulder muscles effectively, minimizing back strain and allowing you to reap positive cardio benefits from snow removal.  It has a wear-strip, chipper plate for icier conditions, and the wheel is specifically designed to operate on gravel without significant wear.  Mark said that the current Snow Wovel is the fourth generation of the product and at this point they feel they have it perfected in terms of use and wear.  And, of course, since the Snow Wovel is people powered, you won’t have gas emissions while you remove snow, if you use one.

What’s your snow removal strategy?