The Best Snow Blower for Every Need and Budget — Zero Carbon Emissions Required

When there's a foot of snow on the ground, it's a comfort to know you have a snow blower in the garage that can handle clearing your property efficiently and without making it a back-breaking ordeal for you.

Of course, if you care about not releasing tons of carbon emissions (or about a pound per hour, as the EPA says), then the best snow blower for you is electric. Not only do electric snow blowers produce zero emissions, they're easier and cheaper to maintain.

Best Corded: PowerSmart Electric Snow Blower, 21-inch 15 Amp Corded Single Stage Snow Thrower ($250)

Best Battery-Powered: Toro Power Clear 21 in. Single stage 60 V Battery Snow Blower Kit ($749)

Most Energy-Efficient: EGO POWER+ 56-volt 24-in Two-stage Self-propelled Battery Snow Blower 7.5 Ah, ($1599)

Most Quiet: Ryobi 40-Volt HP Brushless 21 in. Whisper Series Single-Stage Cordless Electric Snow Blower ($449)

Best for Elder or Smaller Homeowners: Earthwise SN74016 40-Volt Cordless Electric Snow Shovel ($250, was $270)

Electric snow blowers also tend to be more lightweight, although the best battery-powered snow blower may be a bit heavier due to its battery. A gas snow blower may make faster work of a massive snow clearing than an electric one, but that's really the only notable advantage it has. I dug around and found five of the best snow blowers out there—powerhouse electric models for any kind of home or homeowner.

This PowerSmart corded snow blower covers a lot of the bases when it comes to a great snow blower. First of all, the midsized machine with a built-in LED light can handle about 800 pounds of snow per minute. It's corded so it's the lightest you're going to get for such a powerful snow blower. And it even has an adjustable chute so can be sure not to dump the snow on your neighbor's walkway. Like all electric snow blowers, it's maintenance-free and carbon emission-free.

Top review: "It has dramatically reduced my gas expenses during the winter season. The machine's quality is superb, and it handles snow like pro."

If you're looking for a snow blower with the power and vast snow-clearing capacity of a gas snow blower, this EGO POWER+ model is a formidable opponent. The cordless model (it comes with two rechargeable Lithium batteries) can clear an 18-car garage with four LED lights guiding the 24-inch-wide path. You can throw snow as far as 50 feet or keep it closer thanks to an adjustable system.

Toro is a respected name in snow blowers, and its cordless Power Clear model is the perfect mid-priced, lightweight option for average-sized driveways and walkways. This one can tackle up to a 12-car garage, and its battery has a cool feature called Eco Mode, which helps extend the life of your 60-volt battery.

Top review: "Easy to use and had no problem clearing my driveway with 3ft of heavy spring snow using only a 1/4 battery. I should have bought it years ago! This blower is a beast!"

Sometimes, you want to clean up the walkway before work or late at night before bed, but you'd rather not wake up the entire neighborhood. That's where this Ryobi cordless snow blower comes in handy. It's called the Whisper Series for a reason. It also has the power to rival gas snow blowers without the use of fossil fuels — Ryobi runs on (2) 40V 7.5Ah batteries for roughly 40 minutes.

Even the most lightweight snow blowers can be heavy if you don't have the muscle to handle them. Consider a power snow shovel like this one by Earthwise that's less than 20 pounds. It's no slouch, moving up to 300 pounds of snow per minute. It comes with a rechargeable four-volt Lithium battery.