Competitive Lawn Service of Downers Grove, Ill. set out to prove that switching to Autogas can be a good choice for business – and the environment, too. The company’s president, Eric Hansen, was one of three finalists rewarded for their incorporation of green technologies in their business by Lawn & Landscape Magazine.
While he admits the process wasn’t effortless on his part – there was a serious dearth of information about Autogas just a couple of years ago – Hansen was motivated to reach his goal of using propane for most of his fueling needs in the next couple of years.
“I thought that was really interesting that they would come up with an engine that would work and run and operate on propane,” said Hansen.
Starting with just two mowers, Hanson has expanded his Autogas fleet of mowers and trucks rapidly, even having a 1,000 propane tank installed on site.
And even though the initial investments were a bit pricey, the pay-off is significant. Hansen changed the oil in his traditionally-fueled fleet equipment four times more often than he does now with Autogas, and other maintenance costs have plummeted as well.
Ever the optimist, Hansen concludes that “every day gets even better and better because I see more equipment we can retrofit.”
