The Environmental Benefits of Artificial Grass in Dallas

As it becomes essential for people to find ways to reduce their carbon footprint, artificial grass in Dallas is gaining popularity. It offers countless benefits, including reduced garden maintenance costs and increased underfoot comfort. What a lot of people probably didn’t know about artificial grass, however, is its environmental benefits. After all, it’s quite difficult to believe that something artificial has a positive impact on nature. Following are the three main contributions of artificial lawn to the environment.

Reducing Water Use

The average family lawn needs about 22,000 gallons of water per year, which is just about the amount it takes to fill a standard-sized swimming pool. Since artificial grass may last for up to 25 years, that is the volume of water you are likely to save. Even if there are no water use restrictions in your area, saving water is an important step for reducing your overall carbon footprint. If there are water use restrictions, it will not affect you because a huge amount of the water you use is reduced with artificial grass.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released statistics about the amount of water a family uses in the U.S. every day. Of the 320 gallons per day, 30 percent is for outdoor use and this is mainly for watering lawns. When the whole country is considered, one-third of the water used is for landscaping, which is about nine billion gallons every day. If you change your lawn to artificial grass in Dallas, this will be reduced to the bare minimum. You may need to hose off your artificial lawn if it has pet waste, but that’s it. In 2013, artificial grass saved 2.5 billion gallons of water worldwide.

Reducing Fossil-Fuel Emissions

It may seem unbelievable, but running a gasoline-powered lawn mower for one hour may produce as much carbon dioxide pollution as taking a 100-mile road trip. Gasoline and other fossil fuels are becoming more expensive every year, which only adds to the cost of maintaining your lawn and increasing your carbon footprint. This does not even include the maintenance of your power lawn mower. While using a manual lawn mower will also reduce fuel emissions, the work is strenuous and some people simply cannot do it. Senior citizens, differently abled people, and people who simply do not have time cannot maintain natural turf so it looks and feels attractive. The answer may be to employ a landscaping company to maintain their garden, but this takes us back to cost and carbon emissions.

Power lawn mowers use about 800 million gallons of gasoline every year just on mowing lawns. This excessive gas usage and emissions affect the quality of life. Artificial turf in Dallas eliminates carbon emissions, reduces pollution and saves you time and energy from mowing, trimming and removing and composting clippings.

Reducing Toxic Waste

If you want to have beautiful turf, you need to learn how to care for it in all seasons. There is a time when fertilizing is essential, and most lawn fertilizers are toxic. It is estimated that 60 percent of the fertilizer, weed killer, and other chemicals you put on your lawn are wasted down gutters and storm drains. They end up in rivers, lakes, and groundwater and rarely go into a water treatment plant. When you think of the number of homes, commercial properties, golf courses, and parks that need fertilizer, weed killer and pesticides, a number of toxic chemicals that go into the water system is staggering.

In 2012, the amount of pesticides and fertilizers used for lawns was reduced by one billion gallons because of artificial turf. The chemicals used in these products are dangerous to insects and animals as well as humans. Contaminated water may cause allergies, birth defects, skin rashes and many other health issues. The chemicals are synthetic and made from fossil fuel. This means a number of pesticides and herbicides, as well as fertilizer used in one year in the U.S., requires more than 11.8 million barrels of oil.

The clippings from natural grass can also be a major pollutant the grass is not mulched or composted. The waterways that carry away floodwater and runoff from rain can become clogged with improperly disposed of grass clippings. With artificial turf, you will never need to purchase toxic chemicals for your lawn and worry that they are harming your pets, children, wildlife, and the local river or lake.

While natural grass has its benefits, they are largely negated by the amount of oil and energy that is required to make synthetic fertilizers and weed killers as well as the gasoline it takes to run a power mower for one hour a week. If you love your lawn but worry that, it is taking too much time and money to keep attractive and increasing your carbon footprint as well, artificial grass in Dallas may be the solution.

To maximize the potentials of the artificial grass you will install on your property, make sure that it’s provided by a reputable company, such as Dallas Artificial Grass Experts.

Sources:

Artificial Turf Versus Real Grass: Which is Greener?, TreeHugger.com
Eco-Turf: Is fake grass better for the environment?, slate.com