_Apr/keepingthingselectric.jpg "Keeping Things Electric")
Paul Carter has things humming at Bear Trace at Harrison Bay following a conversion to electric equipment
Management of Bear Trace at Harrison Bay has taken green to electric new levels. The club, an Audubon International-certified facility that’s part of the nine-course Tennessee Golf Trail, has long been recognized for its innovative environmental practices. Last March, however, officials converted the lion’s share of the course’s maintenance equipment from gas-powered machinery to electric, further reducing its overall environmental footprint.
Recognizing the benefits of Harrison Bay’s electric golf cart fleet, Mike Nixon and Lori Munkeboe in the state’s Office of Sustainable Practices challenged superintendent Paul Carter to see if there was a way to switch some of his maintenance equipment to electric. “I put a list together in about 48 hours because we needed new equipment anyway,” recounts Carter. “With conservation being such a big part of our course, we were looking for a way to [further] lessen environmental impact.” Munkeboe then obtained funding for the project through the Clean Tennessee Energy grant.
With the exception of diesel fairway and rough mowers, Carter was able to replace 18 pieces of gasoline-powered equipment. The electric equipment purchased for the facility’s Electric Equipment Initiative included three Jacobsen Eclipse 322 greens mowers, four Jacobsen Eclipse 322 three-wheel-drive tee and approach mowers, two Smithco Bunker Rakes, two Tru-Turf R52 greens rollers, five Toro Workman MDE mid-duty utility vehicles and two Club Car Carry-All light-duty utility vehicles.
“Switching to 18 electric pieces of equipment was a pretty big move,” Carter admits. “We’re [now] around 120-some zero-emission days, where the only equipment used on the course is electric and the only gas is used in backpack blowers.” Eventually, Carter plans to switch to electric blowers with lithium batteries and beta-test the first electric fairway mower models before their eventual introduction in “about two years.”
Noting that the investment was “substantial,” Carter is quick to point out that the new electric greens mowers should pay for themselves within four years. “The greens mowers, with all their computer technology, allow you to get a better cut,” he says. “And it makes a world of difference in time and money saved on the course.”
In fact, the move to electric enabled Harrison Bay to save 9,000 gallons of fuel, which amounts to $10,000 in fuel savings, and reduce operational costs (money previously spent on oil and hydraulic maintenance) by approximately $25,000 in 2013. The fuel savings would have been even greater if not for a very wet summer that prevented use of some of the heavier equipment.
“We’re using more electricity than ever before,” adds Carter, “but we’re using less electricity than we anticipated, so we’re ahead of the game there.”
Perhaps not surprisingly, Harrison Bay is serving as a proving ground for the other courses on the Tennessee Golf Trail. Two additional facilities have electric golf carts, while the remaining six still use gas-powered carts. The success of the Electric Equipment Initiative at Harrison Bay, coupled with findings from the use of electric golf carts at two other courses, could eventually lead to conversions at all Tennessee Trail facilities.
“We’re just one of nine courses across the state that have to take their numbers to the other courses,” Carter says. “We want to see how the six courses using gasoline golf carts might go electric if we can pin down what and how the three of us using electric carts are doing. [But so far] it’s been great for our golf course and the environment.”
One day, Carter hopes to install a solar panel system to further lessen Harrison Bay’s reliance on fossil fuels, but the forward-looking superintendent remains realistic in assessing those chances. “Our ultimate goal would to be completely off the grid, but I don’t know if it will ever happen,” he says. “If we get numbers to show how much we’re saving off the grid now, then maybe that will help our cause.”
Steve Donahue is a Connecticut-based freelance writer.