EPA tightens emissions on small engines

Small engines will soon get cleaner in the U.S., with new standards from the Environmental Protection Agency covering equipment from lawn mowers and weed trimmers, to personal watercraft and speedboats.

The new regulations take effect in 2010 for gas-powered marine engines, and 2011 for lawn and garden equipment of 25 horsepower or less.

Engine makers will need cut 35 percent of hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions for lawn and garden equipment, in addition to the a 60 percent reduction that was implemented by regulations two years ago. The new engines are also expected to achieve a 45 percent reduction in fuel evaporative emissions.

The engines in recreational watercraft will need to meet a 70 percent reduction in hydrocarbon and nitrogen oxide emissions, a 20 percent reduction in carbon monoxide and a 70 percent reduction in fuel evaporative emissions.

The new rules will likely see catalytic converters, which have been standard on cars for over 30 years, installed on smaller engines, converting pollutants into less harmful emissions before they leave the engines' exhausts.

"Although challenging, we believe the new exhaust emission standards are fair and achievable," said Kris Kiser, spokesman for the Virginia-based Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, in a statement. He said OPEI members will meet or exceed the new standards.

Companies that make small engines include Tokyo's Honda Motor (NYSE: HMC), Peoria, Ill.-based Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT) and South Bloomington, Minn.'s Toro (NYSE: TTC).

The U.S. energy bill signed into law last year included new regulations for bigger engines, with the legislation boasting the first increase in automobile fuel efficiency in over 30 years (see U.S. solar & wind incentives on the way?).

The the new Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency, or CAFE, standards require automakers to reach a fleet average of 35 miles per gallon for cars and light trucks by 2020, a 40 percent reduction from current standards.

And in Troy, Mich., EcoMotors International is working on a diesel automotive engine that it says will deliver 100 miles per gallon by 2011. The Khosla Ventures-backed startup is investing more than $7 million on a bigger space and more workers for the diesel project (see EcoMotors to expand operations).

Under the new rules for small engines, the EPA said the standards will cut 600,000 tons of hydrocarbons per year, 130,000 tons of nitrogen oxide, 5,500 tons of direct particulate matter, and 1.5 million tons of carbon monoxide.

The agency also expects the new standards to save approximately 190 million gallons of gasoline each year.

The EPA has estimated that small gasoline engines are responsible for about 15 percent of the nation's hydrocarbon pollution, a key ingredient in smog. According to the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund, there are more than 50 million pieces of lawn and garden equipment in use across the country, and one riding lawn mower emits as much hourly pollution as about 34 cars.

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