Lawnmowers vs Artificial Grass

Published on March 20, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Green and bay area. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .

So this is the last of the lawn-mowers bashing series. Maybe.

Lawn-mowers are such an easy target to dis…and now that the weather is warming up and people are wheeling out their mowers across the country, well, you have to wonder why the vast majority of these people are completely unaware of just how damaging that age-old weekly American tradition is. Here is one theory: who is going to blow the whistle on the majority?  As Pogo use to say:  “we have seen the enemy and it is us”.  We have all been members of the lawn-mower majority at one time or another.

Here is a more popular theory: the motors seem so small and the gas tanks seem even smaller! How bad can it be? It’s the sheer volume that gets over-looked. Even broken down by the week, the numbers are staggering.

Each weekend, roughly 54 MILLION Americans mow their lawns! This results in the use of over 800 MILLION gallons of gas per year while producing tons and tons of air pollutants. Lawn care engines, which have had unregulated emissions until very recently, emit high levels of carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides, producing 5% of the nation’s air pollution and even more in metropolitan areas. These figures can be found on the EPA’s website.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also states: a single traditional gas powered lawn mower produces as much air pollution as 43 new cars each being driven 12,000 miles.

Wow, that’s impressive. Let’s see… 54 million x 43… that works out to be the equivalent of an additional 2,322 million pollution producing automobiles on the road every week-end. Hey, get a push mower, will ya? Or better yet relax, reclaim your lost weekends and get a carefree, water-free and 100% recyclable artificial lawn installed.

If you happen to be in the San Francisco Bay Area, onelawn should be your first choice in synthetic grass. Not only does onelawn and The Good Nature Company have a beautiful artificial grass product, their sur-stay installation method is a superior engineered system. Check them out at www.onelawn.com

Artificial Grass = No Mower Gasoline Spills

Published on March 12, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Green and bay area. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

American homeowners and their helpers are just plain clumsy. That’s right, I said it. Clumsy.

According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, American homeowners spill 17 million gallons of gasoline annually in their bungling, fumbling attempts to add fuel to lawn and garden equipment.

17 MILLION GALLONS of gasoline spilled all across America! Why isn’t this phenomena  making national headlines?

Just to give this fact some perspective, imagine this: The Exxon Valdez oil spill is considered one of the most devastating human-caused environmental disasters of all time. That vessel spilled 10.8 million of gallons of crude oil, or 37% less than the gardeners of America spill each year.

These spills result in a huge volume of emissions of hazardous air pollutants like nitrogen oxide and carbon dioxide, and volatile organic compounds, like carbon monoxide. They also contribute to soil and water contamination.

So how can the gardeners of America go green and still enjoy lawns that have the look and feel of a sod lawn? The answer is to install artificial grass.

For those homeowners who live in The San Francisco Bay Area,  onelawn™, a line of estate-quality synthetic grass developed and installed by The Good Nature Company,  is  the most realistic and affordable artificial lawn available. Contact onelawn™ for a free, no obligation in-home consultation today.

Artificial Grass: No Mow Grass Clippings!

Published on March 9, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn, Green, Uncategorized and bay area. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

My last entry described the very real possibility of injuries resulting from the use of lawn mowers. A few people thought the odds were with them on that one. Fair enough. Next time you hear your fence getting whacked by a rock picked up by your lawn mower blade, you might want to think about those odds again…however, today I want to cover a sure thing and that is grass clippings.

Those little green clippings seem innocent enough, and you’d think they’d just break down nicely like the table scraps in your backyard composter, but grass clippings dumped in landfill actually contribute greatly to global warming.

The reason grass clippings contribute to global warming is that in a densely packed covered landfill they don’t have access to the elements -especially oxygen- that help them break down in an aerobic process (unlike a well-functioning compost pile). With the absence of air, sun and rain, grass clippings decompose anaerobically (without oxygen) and create methane, a potent greenhouse gas 21 times more effective at trapping radiant heat than carbon dioxide. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the number-one source of human-caused methane emissions to the atmosphere is buried waste. In fact, landfills contribute 10% of the gases that are warming the globe.

For this reason, many countries around the world and approximately half of all of the landfills in the U.S. have made it illegal to landfill grass clippings. Additionally, grass clippings rot in the landfills, introducing pesticides and fertilizers as well as creating leachate which ultimately contaminates our community drinking water supplies.

The average lawn produces clippings at a rate of about 7.25 pounds per square foot each year. The average lawn measures approximately 650 square feet, resulting in a total of 4700 pounds or 2.35 TONS of clippings a year per lawn! That’s just a single lawn, folks.  Last year Americans threw away a stunning 31 MILLION tons of grass clippings. Is there a “greener” grass out there?

If you want the look of a sod lawn but want an eco-friendly alternative, you should consider a product like Onelawn, an artificial grass that is 100% recyclable and will last 15 to 20 years. That’s 15 to 20 years of NO CLIPPINGS, which means no landfill, no methane gas and no water pollution. And did I mention no more mowing? Save your back and help save the planet.  Install a synthetic lawn today! If you are interested in the San Francisco Bay Area artificial lawn of choice, contact onelawn toll free at 1-877-661-5296.  www.onelawn.com

Artificial Grass Prevents Mowing Injuries

Published on March 6, 2010 in Artificial Grass. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Even though it’s still winter here in the Bay Area, it won’t be long before people start thinking of getting out the old lawn mower on a regular basis to cut the grass. Perhaps this might be a good time to reflect on whether you should have a synthetic lawn installed.

”Why?”, you ask? Well, apart from the most obvious benefits of artificial grass such as saving on water, helping to reduce air and water pollution and saving hours of labor, mowing ‘natural’ grass can lead to accidents and injuries.

According to a report carried out over a period of 5 years in the USA, well over 60,000 Americans were admitted to hospital emergency rooms because of lawn mower accidents. The most common injuries were cuts and bruises but there were cases of bone fractures, limb amputations and even a number of deaths. Admittedly, the ride-on type of lawn mower was a contributor to these type of accidents, however, power mowers and even push mowers were responsible for the lion share of injuries.

So what’s the solution? Well, you can start reading up on how to avoid lawn mower injuries OR you can decide to install an artificial lawn for a greener solution. Long term you are likely to reap far greater benefits than just avoiding lawn mower accidents – you’ll be helping the environment, saving on needless lawn watering and of course spending more time in your garden at leisure because you don’t have to spend countless hours mowing the grass and emptying the grass clippings!

In the San Francisco Bay Area, The Good Nature Company’s onelawn is a cut above the rest (pun intended). You can visit their website at www.onelawn.com or call them, toll free at:
1-877-661-5296. That’s 1-8-77-66-1LAWN.

Artificial Grass Shouldn’t Need Infill

Published on February 15, 2010 in Artificial Grass, Artificial Lawn and bay area. 0 Comments Tags: , .



If you have done any research regarding artificial lawn installation, you will have learned that almost every synthetic grass company out there require infill as part of their synthetic grass installation process. This practice dates back to the development of AstroTurf type athletic fields… a practice that continues to this day. What is infill, you might ask? Infill is a mixture of playground sand and cryogenic black crumb rubber made from recycled tires. There are five basic reasons why athletic fields use this infill:

  1. The blade count on the turf is kept at a minimum to keep the cost of the synthetic grass down, therefore infill is required to make the sparsely populated blades of grass stand up.
  2. The infill helps protect the blades from the grind and torque delivered by the athlete’s shoes.
  3. The infill helps provide some cushion for the athlete when they fall on to the turf.
  4. The weight of the infill (five pounds per square foot minimum) helps keep the turf in place.
  5. The infill helps hide imperfections of the product and/or of the installation.

While all these points may be a good idea if you are planning to have 350 pound linemen scrimmaging on your front lawn on a daily basis, they are bad ideas if you are looking for a beautiful natural looking lawn for your home. Here’s why:

  1. The playground sand gets very hard as time goes on – and because it stays wet much longer, the sand becomes a prime environment for the growth of bacteria.
  2. Pet waste products get trapped in the sand and rubber, creating an unsanitary and smelly condition.
  3. When black rubber heats up, it has the potential to off-gas, making an unpleasant odor.
  4. The dust given off by rubber fill can potentially be harmful to the respiratory system.
  5. The black rubber infill significantly raises the temperature of the grass on warm days to uncomfortable levels.
  6. Infill migrates: the wind blows it around, it gets washed away, it gets into your shoes and into your pet’s paws, which means it ends up in your house and in your car.
  7. Because infill migrates, the black rubber will also need to be periodically refilled.  This is especially true if any slope exists in the lawn.

So you might ask why would any company use infill for residential synthetic lawns? The simple answer is that their artificial grass products do not have enough blades of grass per square inch to stand up without infill. Similar to the different qualities of bed sheets, where a higher thread count means a silky soft texture, a higher blade count in an artificial lawn means a softer, thicker, more lush look and feel and no infill!

San Francisco Bay Area artificial grass onelawn™  not only has a very high blade count but also has a layer of thatching below the blades that adds durability without sacrificing the beauty and natural look of this estate quality product. This combination allows the onelawn™   line of products to be entirely fill-free.

Contact onelawn™ today, get a free in-home consultation and see and feel this beautiful product for yourself.

Top 5 Reasons for a Bay Area Artificial Lawn

Published on February 5, 2010 in Artificial Lawn, Green and bay area. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Residents of the San Francisco Bay Area have pushed the boundaries over the years.  The Bay Area is known to be the home of a forward thinking populous in terms of environmental concerns, technology adoption, and equal rights.   When a nationwide problem arises, a solution often originates from Northern California.

One recent concern Bay Area residents have faced is a three year California drought, which despite recent heavy rains, has pushed homeowners to conserve water through any possible means.  Installing Artificial Lawns instead of traditional water-thirsty sod lawns is one clear way that forward thinking Bay Area homeowners have combated the drought so far.  However, artificial lawns are not only relevant because of the drought – they also provide a solution to  other problems that the country faces as a whole, including economic concerns.

I’d like to take this opportunity to list the top 5 reasons for Bay Area residents to consider installing an artificial lawn.

1. Eco-Friendly Lawns - Bay Area residents are know to be extremely eco-friendly.  Long before global warming became a ‘global concern,’ San Francisco homeowners were recycling, composting, and driving hybrids.  That’s why many residents are taking to artificial lawns that are far better for the environment than their sod counterparts.   Artificial Grass requires no water, compared to the average 57 inches a year of water that a sod lawn requires.  A Bay Area Artificial Lawn also uses  none of the harmful pesticides or fertilizers that are used on normal lawns, which continually contributes to contaminating the environment around us.

2. Cost Saving Benefits – After last year’s economic woes, if Californians have learned anything, it’s to implement cost-saving strategies ahead of time.  Artificial Lawns are on par with Solar Panels or good home insulation in that they are eco-friendly and also have long term cost saving benefits.  With almost no maintenance required, an artificial lawn will pay off its up front cost within 4 years, and from that point forward will save money for the Bay Area homeowner.

3. Child Safe Lawns - The future of the Bay Area rests in the hands of the children.  Making Bay Area homes and the surrounding areas as safe as possible for the next generation is integral.  Artificial Lawns provide the perfect place for kids to play – no mud, no grass stains and no allergies.   The synthetic surface also provides a sanitary place for playgrounds that are often full of germs and bacteria.  On top of that, an Artificial Lawn dries extra fast so kids can play outside soon after a storm.

4.  Pet Friendly – Bay Area residents are known for their love of animals – just take a stroll in San Francisco and you’re likely to see every other person walking side by side with a beautiful dog.  Artificial Lawns provide a great option for all those Bay Area homeowners / pet lovers by providing pet grass that is easy to clean up and won’t wear down due to pet waste.

5.  Perfect for Putting Greens – Finally, for those Bay Area golfers that just can’t stay away from the greens, Artificial Grass provides a great surface for a putting green.  Artificial putting greens have a uniform grass density and height, which makes the surface the perfect place to practice putting at any time.  Artificial greens are also far easier to maintain than natural grass greens which require constant attention.

Bay Area residents are installing Artificial Lawns because they are often one step ahead with integrating efficient and attractive new technologies. onelawn™ is the Bay Area’s premiere artificial lawn company, providing  affordable and efficient installation for Bay Area homes and businesses.  Contact onelawn™ today and get a free in-home consultation for installing your Bay Area Artificial Lawn.

Snowfall has not eliminated drought nor the need for artificial grass in the bay area.

Published on January 28, 2010 in Artificial Grass. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Chronicle Staff Writer Peter Fimrite writes that the recent dose of rainy weather seems to have buoyed the hopes of California’s water municipalities, but measurements taken in the Sierra Nevada show there is still not enough snow pack to eliminate drought conditions.

The ritual hike into the snowy wilds to survey the state’s frozen water supply found less snow than normal for this time of year in the Sierras.

Frank Gehrke, chief of snow surveys for the California Department of Water Resources, after finishing the last measurement at Phillips Station next to Highway 50, remarked: “What we’re finding this year is really pretty close to last year”.

It is easy to look at what was your dead lawn, see green grass and think “wow, maybe the drought is over and the prices of water will go down…perhaps my interest in saving money with a synthetic lawn isn’t necessary. Unfortunately, even if the drought was to end today, the cost of water will continue to rise. In his very informative article titled: ‘As we use less, we could pay more’, Kelly Zito, SF Chronicle staff, writes: “The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, the largest water district in the region, is leaning toward 10 percent annual rate increases over the next four years. Marin Municipal Water District plans a 7.3 percent bump”. This informative article can be found by going to: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/04/19/MNU41732JU.DTL

The average lawn requires 55,000 gallons of water a year. Unfortunately, most people over-water their lawn, causing that amount to jump up to 75,000 gallons a year or more. Getting an artificial lawn for the future just makes sense, both cost-wise and for the environment.

Are sod lawns better for the environment then artificial lawns?

Published on January 25, 2010 in Artificial Lawn. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

A national professional “landcare” organization sent me a list of tips for conserving water and this statement: a healthy lawn is good for the environment.  Is it?

Turf grass does take in carbon dioxide and produce oxygen, and the roots can filter water.

Lawns also suck up an incredible amount of water and the run off from fertilizers and pesticides gets into ground water supplies.  This is especially problematic in places like the Bay Area that have been recently susceptible to drought.

If you really want to save water, get rid of the lawn and replace it with native plants, shrubs, trees.  If you want a lawn but want to conserve water, then please consider using  artificial grass, which doesn’t need to be watered, mowed or chemically-enhanced. If you happen to live in the Bay Area and are thinking about an artificial lawn as a solution, contact onelawn by going to our website: www.onelawn.com or call 1-877-5296.

Artificial Grass has Come a Long Way Since Astroturf

Published on January 25, 2010 in Artificial Grass and general. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .

Synthetic grass has come a long way since the first installation of Astroturf at the dome in Houston in 1965.  The first generation of artificial grass gained a reputation for its unrealistic look and feel.  With the advances in materials and construction over the past 40 years, the improvements have led to a product that is virtually indistinguishable from traditional sod in appearance and texture.  The Good Nature Company’s onelawn™ is the next generation of artificial grass.

Welcome to Onelawn’s Blog

Published on January 21, 2010 in Artificial Lawn and News. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Welcome to Onelawn’s new and improved Artificial Lawn Blog.  We wanted to create a place where we can regularly expound on the benefits of installing an Artificial Lawn for your Bay Area home.  Not only will we elaborate on the cost saving and eco-friendly benefits of Synthetic Grass, but we’ll also touch on local San Francisco events, tell you how you can improve your golf game, ways to make child safe playgrounds  and more.  Please check back for frequent updates, and thanks for reading.