Article bashing wood burning

[john26]

I ran across this article today.

An EPA fix for pollution-spewing wood stoves is backfiring

As health experts unravel the harmful effects of air pollution from wood stoves and woodsmoke, local officials and the EPA are testing replacement heating devices.

www.popsci.com

 

[begreen]

It's not a bad article. Wood smoke in urban areas and in natural geographic bowls that trap smoke during temperature inversions are real issues. But they are not as universal as the article might suggest. For example, the article mentions Keene, NH. Here is what today's air looks like with wood heating on a 35º ambient temp day.



Here is for Libby, MT today.



Portland in the area mentioned by the article right now



Urban pollution is complex. I feel for the Portland resident. That is an industrial and airport area. Having a neighbor that runs a stove or fireplace poorly is adding insult to injury. However, not to be flippant, but I also wonder about the effects on her health from the multiple long summer stretches where wildfire smoke choked the Portland area with astoundingly high PM2.5 numbers. That surely did not help her situation. Additionally, Portland has an ozone problem in warmer weather and apparently that is getting worse due to climate change. Part of the solution there is to switch to cleaner power generation and electrifying transportation.

The best thing we can do is to personally burn cleanly and help educate others on how to do so. Setting moisture content standards for firewood and greater public education on proper burning practices would also help.

 

[Mt Bob]

It's not a bad article. Wood smoke in urban areas and in natural geographic bowls that trap smoke during temperature inversions are real issues. But they are not as universal as the article might suggest. For example, the article mentions Keene, NH. Here is what today's air looks like with wood heating on a 35º ambient temp day.

View attachment 293224

Here is for Libby, MT today.

View attachment 293225

Portland in the area mentioned by the article right now

View attachment 293226

Urban pollution is complex. I feel for the Portland resident. That is an industrial and airport area. Having a neighbor that runs a stove or fireplace poorly is adding insult to injury. However, not to be flippant, but I also wonder about the effects on her health from the multiple long summer stretches where wildfire smoke choked the Portland area with astoundingly high PM2.5 numbers. That surely did not help her situation. Additionally, Portland has an ozone problem in warmer weather and apparently that is getting worse due to climate change. Part of the solution there is to switch to cleaner power generation and electrifying transportation.

The best thing we can do is to personally burn cleanly and help educate others on how to do so. Setting moisture content standards for firewood and greater public education on proper burning practices would also help.

Yep,very real,especially here in MT. Temp. inversions. Is not uncommon for wood burning to be temporarily shut down in certain areas.valleys. And, in some sections, OWB's were outlawed. Mostly because people refused to burn them properly, or obtain dry wood.

 

[john26]

The article has good points but I do not agree with a few of the statements

“In my view, it’s criminal that we allow people to be put in a position where they have to poison themselves and their neighbors in order to stay warm.” Susan Remmers, Portland resident
For many air quality regulators and advocates, tweaking wood stove emissions is missing the point. Though reducing emissions in the short term can be beneficial, a longer-term solution would phase out wood stoves altogether, said Laura Kate Bender, the national assistant vice president for healthy air at the American Lung Association.

 

[stoveliker]

For many air quality regulators and advocates, tweaking wood stove emissions is missing the point. Though reducing emissions in the short term can be beneficial, a longer-term solution would phase out wood stoves altogether, said Laura Kate Bender, the national assistant vice president for healthy air at the American Lung Association.

Indeed; as we did for the cars...
Ow, no, we tweaked emissions (thru mandates) rather than outlawing them. And see where it got us.

 

[begreen]

Ow, no, we tweaked emissions (thru mandates) rather than outlawing them. And see where it got us.

Yes indeed. It got us dramatically improved air quality and cars that get a lot better gas mileage.

 

[Coyyote]

This article was published in High Country News also. HCN is a publication championing many wilderness causes I disagree with but read to keep up with what the spotted owl crowd is up too recently. And today I find they are down on wood stoves

The far-reaching consequences of woodsmoke pollution - High Country News

Wood burning stoves raise public health and environmental justice concerns.

www.hcn.org

 

[begreen]

That's the same article as in the original posting. It has been reprinted many times including the PopSci version. It was originally published in Undark Magazine. Undark is a non-profit, editorially independent digital magazine exploring the intersection of science and society.

 

[Coyyote]

Agree, that is why I ended the sentence with “also”. However this just spreads the info over another audience.