A group of engineers and business students from George Mason University, Virginia are developing a method to harvest and process grassy biomass which will in turn be used as a fuel to power lawnmowers.

They have developed, EcoMow, a small self-fuelled mower and grass pellet harvester. It uses the grassy biomass that it harvests as fuel, and processes the biomass that it does not use into a dried pellet form which can be used for other applications such as heating or power generation.

The system is being trialled by US landscaper, Sean Cummings who has been mowing lawns in New York for over 25 years, but says that with increased fuel costs it now costs him three times as much to mow a lawn as it did when he first started. He says modern landscaping is a business model completely dependent on how much it costs to fill the mowers.

Which is exactly why Jason Force invented E-Mow, the world's first self-fuelled lawn mower. E-Mow cuts lawns like other mowers, but then uses a vortex dryer to remove any water from the clippings. It then heats and pressurizes them to create pellets.

"The pellets go in the top there's a reaction fuel gas comes out the side and you can use that in an engine to create power," said Force. Hesays the technology will first be used to create alfalfa feed for livestock and then in a short time, inside commercial lawn mowers.

Indeed, Jason Force says that the unimaginable will be a reality by the end of next summer.