Air emissions, the impact of heating fuels

[begreen]

This in an interesting doc published by the EPA. The conclusions are positive for wood burning and a bit surprising for an agency that some folks see as the bad guy.

(broken link removed to http://www.woodheat.org/attachments/article/107/hpawma.pdf)

 

[PapaDave]

Fine particulates aren't great for older stoves, better for newer.
Just shows there's another good reason for me to upgrade asap.

 

[Jags]

Cool stuff. For those that don't want to read through it, skip down to the graphs. Interesting to say the least.

 

[brian89gp]

Kind of ironic, the huge heat pump push from the environmental crowd actually would produce more greenhouse gas then burning wood.

 

[jharkin]

I wonder how much the % of installed EPA compliant stoves has increased since this was written ('98) and how much further the emissions picture for wood has improved.

 

[Highbeam]

Gotta push those electrons somehow. Regional power source differences will produce different results of course since somebody living in WA state gets way more power from hydroelectric dams than someone in coal country and the greenhouse gas emission differences will be drastic. The paper was global though.

 

[Jags]

The paper was global though.

Yep, I thought it interesting that they are looking at an "average".

 

[WoodpileOCD]

Here are the conclusions posted for those who don't like to read all the details.

CONCLUSIONS
C When the contributions of all the components of energy production for residential space heating
and the atmospheric fate of pollutants are taken into consideration, wood combustion has the
lowest greenhouse gas and acid precipitation impacts per unit of heat delivered among the energy
options. Its fine particulate impact based on existing wood burning appliances was the highest
among the options.
C The direct in-home use of natural gas has the lowest fine particulate impact per unit of heat
delivered. While not as low as RWC, natural gas also has low greenhouse gas and acid
precipitation impacts.
C Average reductions in fine particulate values greater than 50% can be achieved with new wood
burning appliances.
C In regards to national or global scale air quality impacts, residential wood heating with new technology appliances and the direct use of natural gas are the most sound environmental options.