I see that today the air quality is pretty good in Utah. What good wood a wood burning ban due today? > Not much.
http://air.utah.gov/currentconditions.php?id=slc
http://air.utah.gov/currentconditions.php?id=slc
The problem is that the Utah numbers are generalized. Woodsmoke, especially PPM 2.5 is much worse than 5% according to WA State DoE. They have been doing much better tracking and data keeping for the past couple decades. Note that WA state has a much higher percentage of certified stoves due to legislation passed in the 90s.
View attachment 148330 View attachment 148331
WA State DoE - It is for the whole state I believe. .
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/airhome.html
Here's the whole publication:
Thanks, now to find the info.
Wow, changing over to EPA stoves is a much larger project than I imagined.Interesting fact, out of the ~9.3 million wood stoves in use approximately 8.3 are pre-EPA.
There aren't many wood burners in Utah because there just isn't that much available wood. There is wood in the mountains of course, but most of that is owned by the feds.Maybe because there are a higher percentage of wood burners here in WA.
I have a friend with a nice EPA stove whose wife insists the stove top temp stay over 500 no matter what. I don't even know how she manages to do it. It's like anything else, people will figure out the strangest possible ways to do things wrong.That about lines up with my experience with friends, neighbors and co-workers... I am always slightly shocked when I bump into that 1 in 10 that has an EPA stove, and can actually converse about secondary combustion.
That's, in large part, in the U.S. anyhow, because more must be done toward educating wood burners. This place is great but what percentage of the 9.3 million ever find there way here?
I've suggested before, a MM should come with every new stove to help drive home the point beyond just what's in the owners manual used to start the first fire.
I'm sure there could be more beyond that we can do, just a suggestion.
Imagine if those numbers were reversed I your situation or even in the Wasatch Front. Speciation but I wonder if we would even be having this conversation.
That about lines up with my experience with friends, neighbors and co-workers... I am always slightly shocked when I bump into that 1 in 10 that has an EPA stove, and can actually converse about secondary combustion.
The fact that newer stoves employ efficient, clean combustion technology has to be one of the best kept secrets in this country. Policymakers rarely understand this, and even if they do, the voting constituencies remain largely in the dark. They mostly all think a stove is a stove is a stove. Even woodburners think that!
If voters and politicians all understood the vast differential in emissions from EPA stoves vs. fireplaces and smoke dragons, let alone open burning, these blanket-bans would never fly.
If wood smoke is only 5% of the problem here, and 90% of stoves are pre-EPA, and those pre-EPA stoves emit far more particulates per stove, even a child can see that virtually NO effective pollution arises from the use of modern stoves... only a tiny fraction of a percent. Far from being the problem, EPA stoves are THE SOLUTION.
Why on earth would policymakers want to ban the solution? They should be doing all they can to promote it. I hate advocating for ANY tax, but maybe greater tax credits for EPA stoves could be funded by a tax on open fireplaces in new construction... at least that would be a far more progressive tax than most. As it stands, a ban on wood stoves has all the weight of a regressive tax, with poorest folks bearing the financial burden of the change.
In the vein of the OP, keep in mind that not only is an EPA stove going to emit less particulate matter to air, but with a cat. or secondary burn tube EPA stove, the efficiency is going to result in a 30% to 50% immediate drop in wood consumption due only to the resulting efficiency of the certified stove. Get rid of the BELCH FIRE-SMOKE DRAGONS and see less ppm emmissions and LESS wood consumption overall . Win Win. Utah is definitely going down the wrong trail here, and very short sighted. We need to pay attn. here.
Maybe an article in local papers with the premise toward getting the community to the meetings?
Really short notice.
Rather than reinventing the wheel I suggest Utah legislators look at other states that have already dealt with this issue for guidance. They need to phase out pre-EPA stoves and to ban open burning and fireplaces during an inversion. If the inversion worsens, then they need to the authority to temporarily ban all burning until the air is cleared by a change in the weather. Seeing that automobile emissions are a major issue they should consider adopting Calif. tier 3 standards. Do these measures and then do periodic reviews to see if the program has accomplished its goals.
OK, what can we as wood burners offer as alternate solutions?
Excellent! First because as a Interior resident, you were part of a well-run stove change out person and second, because just maybe others will take this issue seriously.BKVP, I just got back from browsing Youtube. The single best video about seasoning firewood I saw was from Stihl. I saw two from the EPA, high production quality, factual, but not riveting.
I will check with the wife, her SLR can do HD video, 1080p I think, but we only got a couple hours of daylight to work with here. But I can see the top of the stack from the north side of the house to get the steam plume with the sun behind it.
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