Did you know?
Turfgrass:
- Aids in the reduction of CO2 emissions.
Mitigates the “heat island” effect.- Reduces energy consumption and contributing to efforts in reducing global warming trends.
- Provide a natural, comfortable and safe setting for outdoor fun.
- Releases oxygen and cools the air.
- Controls pollution and reduces soil erosion.
- Purifies and replenishes water supply.
- Provides enough oxygen for one person to breathe every day in just 55 sq. ft. of turf.
- The EPA says the average lawn in the USA is 8712 sq. ft.
It’s purifying…
- Turfgrass traps and removes dust and dirt from the air.
- 2500 sq ft. of lawn absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere and releases enough oxygen for a family of four to breath.
- It acts as a filter, reducing the pollution of purifying the water passing through the root zone.
- Lawn areas in the U.S. store up to 37 billion tons of carbon!
It’s cool…
- On a hot summer day, lawns can be as much as 30 degrees coolers than asphalt and 14 degrees cooler than bare dirt.
- The front lawn of eight houses has the cooling effect of approximately 70 tons of air conditioning! (The average home has an air conditioner of 3-4 ton capacity.
- The cooling effect of irrigated turf reduces the amount of fuel that must be burned to provide electricity to power the air conditioner.
It prevents erosion…
- Grass is the most cost effective method for controlling wind and water erosion.
- Healthy sod absorbs rainfall six times more effectively than a wheat field and four times more effective than a hay field.
- A sodded lawn will absorb greater amounts of rainfall than a seeded lawn; even after three years of growth.
It adds curb appeal…
- Turfgrass reduced noise abatement as well as reducing glare. A grass area of 70 feet on a roadside can reduce vehicle noise by 40%.
- A well maintained lawn and landscape can enhance the value of a home, increasing as much as 15% in value.
What do you know about golf course grass?
According to the NGF and GSCAA, the average golf course has 75 acres of maintained turf. Roughly 2 acres are putting greens and the remaining 73 acres are tees, fairways and rough. The average putting green is 5000 square feet so a single golf course’s total amount of putting greens would be about 95,000 sq. ft. Tees, fairways and rough are about 3,050,000 sq. ft.
So how many people can breathe daily because of the oxygen output of one golf course?
- 55 sq ft of turf is enough for 1 person to breathe daily. Total average golf course square footage is 3.145 million sq ft. 3.145 million sq ft. divided by 55 sq. ft. = 57,181 people.
How many people can breathe daily because of the oxygen output of all golf courses in the USA?
- There are an estimated 16,000 golf courses in the United States (per GCSAA/NGF). If you figure 16,000 golf courses times 57,181 people (the amount of oxygen put off by each course) you’ll find that they produce enough oxygen for 914,909,120 people! (Keep in mind, there are only 300 million people in America today.)
How many can breathe from the oxygen produced by turfgrass in the U.S.?
- There are roughly 46.5 million acres of turfgrass in USA, or 2.025 trillion sq. ft. of turfgrass. That amount of grass produces enough oxygen for 36,825,000,000 people to breathe every single day! (There are only 3.5 billion people on earth!)