May 2021. Fireplaces and stoves are bigger polluters than traffic. The Guardian, by Dr Gary Fuller. Increases in wood burning have offset gains in other areas, including cleaning up exhaust fumes. Fireplaces and stoves are now the largest single source of primary particle pollution in the UK, greater than traffic and industry. About 40% of the UK’s primary particle pollution comes from just 7% of homes that burn solid fuel. Will the new ban on sales of coal and wet wood in England help the problem or risk making it worse? ... wet wood accounts for about only 20% of the total being burnt, limiting the potential impact of the ban. Writing in Country Living, Emma-Louise Pritchard concludes that the new rules “mean that those of us with fires or wood-burning stoves in our homes can continue to light them with added peace of mind” (and thus encourage people to continue an activity that emits more pollution in a single day than a petrol car in an entire year). ... Several local councils, including Camden in north London, are clearer in their messaging. They have asked people not to heat their homes with any solid fuels. Mar 2021. Study Finds Wildfire Smoke More Harmful To Humans Than Pollution From Cars "Researchers with the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego say that the tiny particles released in wildfire smoke are up to 10 times more harmful to humans than particles released from other sources, such as car exhaust." And it's pretty likely that the smoke from wood stoves that's emitted directly to residential areas is equally harmful. Let's do our best to clear the air - develop rapid responses to detect and where possible extinguish bushfires before they get out of control and encourage everyone to switch to non polluting heating. See also: Researchers call for revisions to air-quality monitoring guidelines to consider the sources of emissions "A 10 microgram-per-cubic meter increase in PM2.5 attributed to sources other than wildfire smoke was estimated to increase respiratory hospital admissions by 1 percent. The same increase, when attributed to wildfire smoke, caused between a 1.3 to 10 percent increase in respiratory admissions." So wood smoke could be up to 10 times more harmful. Mar 2021. A UK renovation that looks a lot better and will be a lot healthier and cause less global warming after removing the wood stove. Feb 2021. British Medical Journal: Home insulation also saves lives by reducing wood stove pollution. As well as creating warmer, healthier homes,1 improved insulation saves lives by reducing wood heater pollution, which is responsible for 56% of the health costs of man made air pollution in New Zealand—NZ$4425 (£2322; €2643; $3200) per wood heater per year.2 Nick Hopkinson, medical director of the British Lung Foundation and Asthma UK, warning of similar problems emerging in the UK, said, “To protect yourself and others, especially children, avoid buying a wood burning stove or using an open fire if you have another source of fuel.”3 Feb 2021. LETTER – It’s time for the government to get tough on wood-burning As we are now in the height of the “poison your neighbour with wood smoke” season, I believe there are some things our governments should consider.... Do people realize that they are releasing the stored carbon, fine particulates, VOCs and PAHs (known carcinogens) into the atmosphere? Do they know all this and don’t care? I would argue yes, which requires forceful government regulation and enforcement. Burning wood for heat is only one step up from burning coal from a pollution perspective. This practice can no longer be acceptable in the 21st century. I wonder how many people are taking advantage of the CVRD $500 rebate for replacement of old wood-burning appliances considering it probably costs around $6,000. A bylaw to help accelerate this could be that on the sale of a house, any wood-burning appliance WETT certificate be revoked. Any low-efficiency appliance would have to be replaced/decommissioned before a new certificate could be issued. Since burning wood produces carbon and there is a carbon tax on GHGs emissions, then local governments should implement a carbon tax on properties that have wood-burning appliances. A final approach would be to ban all wood-burning appliances and slash pile burning in the Valley. This ultimate solution will ensure clean air and contribution to the reduction of GHGs. Further, governments should fund permanent bylaw officer positions to police poor wood combustion, issue tickets and stop orders, as well as ensuring compliance with all other bylaws in the Valley. It is time for proactive action on this issue by our local governments instead of the apparent current approach of hoping the situation will resolve itself. Obvious to anyone with a nose wanting to breathe clean air, the current approach isn’t working. Feb 2021. Wood-burning stove ‘invisible killer’ warning. Air Pollution researcher, Gary Fuller writes: "lots of people have begun to write to me worried that their children’s bedrooms are being filled by wood smoke from their neighbour’s chimney or that their elderly grandparent’s dodgy chest is being worsened by smoke that drifts into their house each winter’s evening. I am sure that these are just the tip of the iceberg. "The Government estimates that around 40 percent of the particle pollution produced in the UK is coming from home burning of solid fuel, mostly wood. And the particle pollution we breathe every day is shortening our lives. "According to UK government estimates, around 27,000 people are dying early each year as a consequence. Such particles not only damage the lungs but also enter the bloodstream and are increasingly thought to affect vital organs like the brain, liver, spleen and kidneys. "They have been linked to Alzheimer’s disease, and even skin ages more rapidly in dirty air. When I talk to people about air pollution, they invariably point the finger at traffic, and, specifically, diesel cars, but while we’ve been focusing hard on what comes from exhaust pipes, smoke from home fires has returned to our towns and cities. "However, even stoves that pass such eco-friendly standards still emit around six times more particle pollution than a modern diesel lorry – and 18 times more than a diesel car. "Is it fair motorists are paying for exhaust abatement, and industry is doing the same for its chimneys, while home wood-burning is effectively off-setting the benefits? ..."It turned out the extra particle pollution from wood-burning not only reversed the predicted pollution gains from London’s new low emission zone but was six times more than the particle pollution we had saved." Feb 2021. Logging increases bush flammability for 30 years, research shows “It's up to seven times more likely that the canopy in a logged forest will burn compared with an unlogged forest” said Patrick Norman, an ecologist with the Griffith Climate Change Response Program, and one of the report’s authors. “Once the canopy is burnt, it takes a long time for the recovery.” The review found climate change was the key contributor to increased bushfires in Australia, with rising temperatures and more intense dry spells priming the forests for burning. However, disturbance of forests, such as from logging, exacerbated the impacts. ‘This is the same emissions as all the transport on the road, it’s twice the size of the EU’s emissions and eight times the airline’s emissions, so once you put it into perspective, it’s a gigantic number. ‘But from our perspective, the impacts of addressing methane emissions can be done in a much shorter time scale than say getting all the petrol and diesel cars off the roads.’ Another page shows that a typical wood heater burring 4 tonnes of hardwood a year will cause as much global warming over the next 20 years as 50 fuel efficient cars each driving 10,000 km a year. So replacing a single wood heater burning 2 tonnes of wood with climate-friendly alternatives such as a heat pump or reverse cycle heater-air-conditioner will reduce global warming by as much as 125 fuel-efficient cars driving 40 km less per week. If the wood heater burns 4 tonnes a year, the reduction in global warming will be better than 250 fuel efficient cars reducing their driving by 40 km/week. Feb 2021. Burning wood is undermining climate goals, says EU "The researchers found that 23 out of 24 of the bioenergy scenarios evaluated in the report pose a risk to climate, biodiversity or both. Meaning that any increase in logging for bioenergy purposes may reduce Europe’s carbon stocks and require additional corrective actions to reduce emissions in other sectors to meet climate targets. ... Over 100 NGOs including Greenpeace have supported a petition that calls on the EU to reform the Renewable Energy Directive so that countries can no longer count the burning of forest wood toward their renewable energy targets. Jan 2021. To Counter Climate Change, We Need to Stop Burning Things, 𝗕𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗠𝗰𝗞𝗶𝗯𝗯𝗲𝗻, 𝗰𝗼-𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝟯𝟱𝟬.𝗼𝗿𝗴. "...wood burns inefficiently, producing large amounts of carbon for each unit of energy that it produces. Worse, it takes decades for those forests to regrow and suck up that carbon—decades that we don’t have. We’re breaking the back of the climate system in real time and, as we’ve known for years, burning wood hurts, not helps" Jan 2021. UK Daily Mail: Asthma charity pleads with Britons NOT to use wood-burning stoves this winter to prevent air pollution Asthma UK and the British Lung Foundation Partnership urged people with an alternative means of heating to stop using the wood-burner. Dr Nick Hopkinson, medical director at the Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Partnership said: ‘To protect yourself and others, especially children who are particularly vulnerable as their lungs are smaller and still developing, avoid buying a wood-burning stove or using an open fire if you have another source of fuel to cook and heat your home with.’ Sarah MacFadyen, head of policy at Asthma UK, said: ‘We know that burning wood and coal releases fine particulate matter (PM2.5) – the most worrying form of air pollution for human health. It’s therefore important to consider less polluting fuel options, especially if coal or wood is not your primary fuel source.’ Around 40 per cent of outdoor particulate pollution is caused by wood-burners, coal fires and open fires. Sarah added: ‘We also need to see politicians doing more to raise awareness on the health dangers of wood and coal burning as part of a national health campaign on toxic air so people can make the best choices for their own health as well as the health of others around them.’ December 2020. LETTER: City council congratulated for launching campaign against wood burning. The new campaign is timely since a recent DEFRA report concluded that 49% of stove owners have no idea that woodsmoke is very bad for health. It is a common myth that woodsmoke is natural and therefore somehow harmless. In fact, it contains over 200 carcinogenic compounds and high levels of Particulate Matter 2.5. PM2.5 is one of the the most harmful air pollutants to human health. These invisible particles are so tiny that when inhaled can enter the bloodstream and reach every part of the body. Particulate pollution is associated with a range of conditions including cancer, heart disease, asthma, dementia and COPD. December 2020. Op-Ed: Is burning wood for power carbon-neutral? Not a chance. Tim Searchinger, senior research scholar, School of Public & International Affairs, Princeton University. "the process of burning wood results in more carbon being released into the atmosphere than burning coal. This happens in two ways. Trees in a forest store carbon and keep it out of the atmosphere. When trees are cut down, more than half the wood is left to rot or burned in producing a usable form of fuel (usually wood pellets), which releases carbon into the air. The wood fuel that is ultimately burned in power plants generates still more carbon. Overall, using wood produces two to three times as much carbon per kilowatt hour as burning coal or natural gas. "The origins of this bizarre way of thinking about burning wood for power generation lies in a misinterpretation of scientific guidance about how to count emissions. Since the early 1990s, countries have reported their emissions each year to the United Nations as part of a global treaty, the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. Because it is easier to count the carbon to be released from trees as soon as they are cut, a global scientific panel told countries to report the carbon at that stage. To avoid double-counting, countries then do not count the carbon released into the atmosphere when the wood is burned. This national reporting system works because the emissions are counted somewhere. "Unfortunately, lawmakers have misread this rule as a declaration that carbon from burning wood can be ignored entirely in national and local laws for power plants and factories" December 2020. Children in Georgian kindergartens exposed to harmful particles from wood-burning stoves. "Conducted jointly by the Georgian branch of Women in Europe for a Common Future and the National Centre for Disease Control and Public Health, the study showed increased levels of particulate matter (PM) at 59 kindergartens, mostly due to emissions from wood-burning stoves." December 2020. Interesting story - development of PurpleAir sensors. Adrian Dybwad vividly recalls the day in 2015 when his chance experiment gave birth to his start-up — PurpleAir, a company that would quickly go on to launch a community science movement for air quality monitoring around the world. December 2020. UK Air Quality News: The link between air pollution and COVID-19 mortality Thomas Münzel, Andrea Pozzer and Jos Lelieveld from the Johannes Gutenberg University in Mainz, Germany examine the links between the pandemic and health. Several studies on Covid19 and air pollution are summarized on the AAGQ Covid19 page. December 2020. Earth.org: How Developed Countries are Exploiting Developing Countries (and harming the climate) for Biomass Energy UK-based researchers found last year that burning wood is a ‘disaster’ for climate change as older trees release large amounts of carbon when they are burned and aren’t always replaced and even when they are, it can take up to 100 years to cultivate an area that soaks up as much carbon as was previously released. It's time to put an end to this carbon accounting loophole that allows countries to waste taxpayers money and harm the climate while pretending to achieve spurious 'renewable' energy targets. December 2020. Guardian. Wood burners triple harmful indoor air pollution, study finds. "Wood burners triple the level of harmful pollution particles inside homes and should be sold with a health warning, says scientists, who also advise that they should not be used around elderly people or children ... "The research was conducted in 19 homes in Sheffield over the course of a month at the start of 2020. The wood burners used were all models certified by the government as “smoke exempt appliances”, meaning they produce less smoke.." Indoor Air Pollution from Residential Stoves: Examining the Flooding of Particulate Matter into Homes during Real-World Use - Authors' brief summary of the research paper. Safer alternative to burning wood in an existing fireplace that might also work for stoves. December 2020. Guardian. Pollutionwatch: toxic threat from wood burning and tyre dust. "The greatest toxicity in these European samples came from sources that are poorly controlled. These include wood burning, which has been increasing because of policies on renewable energy, and dusts from the wear of tyres, brakes and roads." December 2020. Letter Davis Enterprise: Unhealthy together. "Our shared Davis values include healthy living, education, and not intentionally harming others. Let’s spread the word that (wood) smoke is harmful, so change can happen." December 2020. SFGATE Why the air quality is unhealthy in the Bay Area right now. You may have noticed a toxic haze over the Bay Area on Friday, and more unhealthy air is in the forecast for Saturday. The Air Quality Management District has a Spare the Air Alert in effect today, and it's illegal for residents and businesses to use fireplaces, wood stoves, pellet stoves, outdoor fire pits or any other wood-burning devices. The conditions are the result of typical wintertime build-up of fine particle pollution, said Aaron Richardson, a spokesperson with the management district. December 2020. UK Mums for Lungs. Are you asking yourself how can something as toxic as the burning of wood can be promoted by so many magazines and house renovation TV shows? We think that it’s down to the lack of awareness regarding the damage caused by particulate matter. And it’s precisely why we’re launching a campaign focusing on wood burning. If you read a newspaper or magazine or watch a TV programme that promotes wood stoves as a design feature please let us know, and bring our campaign to the attention of the magazine editor or broadcaster. We have a template letter here that you can use to email them. November 2020. Science Norway: Heating our homes with wood burning stoves could be worse than both traffic pollution and oil-based heating for air quality, according to the Norwegian Institute for Air Research. November 2020. Cities for People and Nature - Webinar - Air Quality Prof Clare Murphy, Hugh Forehead, Stephanie Beaupark, Jane Heyworth & Nigel Goodman Question: Do you agree that the only effective way to reduce wood smoke is to phase out existing wood heaters and restrict the installation of new wood heaters? Answer: Clare Murphy: "Absolutely I agree ... the question says 'Does the Panel Agree?' and I would say that everyone on this Panel - potentially not Nigel, but everyone else on the Panel was an author of that Clean Air Plan, so it was the opinion of all of us who were part of that study that that should happen. It is politically difficult, but absolutely. I grew up in London when you couldn't burn coal or wood and have visible smoke ever since the 50s, so it's a no-brainer. But I'll let other people on the panel comment, but I think absolutely we should follow this recommendation. Sadly, I'm not an elected member of the NSW Parliament, and no ambitions in that way, so I'll pass on to other panel members. Answer: Hugh Forehead: I could just give a personal experience of the data from having grown up in Launceston in Northern Tasmania. There were times in winter where - there was one night when I was driving home and I had to stop the car because I couldn't see the side of the road - that was wood smoke. It's a problem. November 2020. Consequences of wood burning in an urban setting. Brian Moench, M.D., president of Utah Physicians for a Healthy Environment. Guest Column, KENNEBUNK POST. If your next door neighbor or business is a wood burner, the rest of the community can be enjoying clean air, while you can be plagued by literally Beijing, China, levels of pollution with all of the health consequences. One household burning wood for heat will create as much pollution as about 400 commuting cars. ...Some people afford wood smoke a “pollution pass” because they think it’s natural, or that because humans evolved with fire it is somehow not harmful. But for most people wood smoke is the most toxic type of air pollution they ever inhale. The EPA estimates that the lifetime cancer risk from wood smoke is 12 times greater than that from an equal volume of secondhand tobacco smoke. Particles in wood smoke are extraordinarily small, behaving essentially like gases, a property that allows them to remain suspended in the atmosphere, penetrate homes with little resistance, be inhaled more easily and be less likely to be exhaled. ...Air pollution is the fourth leading cause of death. An incomplete list of the diseases associated with air pollution includes: heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s, cancer, most lung diseases, birth defects, miscarriages, still births, pregnancy complications, Type II diabetes, arthritis, pneumonia, and virtually all types of infections. Because air pollution damages chromosomes, it even harms the unborn. Because it damages sperm and egg cells it even harms the unconceived. ....Public policy and local ordinances on wood burning must be updated for the science, and prioritize the health of those affected. The science says wood smoke is the new cigarette smoke, and no one should be involuntarily exposed. November 2020. Experts have found a link between the use of open fires in the home and poor cognitive function in elderly people in Ireland. Could your open fire be giving you dementia? Flames expose you to more air pollution than travelling on busy roads. 'We know that exposure to indoor air pollution affects both respiratory and cardiovascular health, but, before now, little was known about how it affects cognitive function in older adults. 'We discovered that the level of exposure to particulate matter from open fires is comparable to and may well exceed the levels people are exposed to from roadside sources .... Cognitive decline was estimated by widely-used cognitive tests including word recall and verbal fluency, which was compared with open fire usage. Users of open fires recalled 0.305 fewer words from a possible total of 20 words compared to those who did not use open fires, they found. The team also examined concentrations of airborne PM from burning peat, wood, or coal in open fires in the home. Samples of PM emitted by burning peat, wood and coal in residential open fires were collected using a vacuum pump. Ubiquitous among the mix of solid and gaseous components that make up airborne PM are strongly magnetic, iron-rich ultra-fine particles, produced by wood-burning. Researchers found that this magnetic content in PM emitted from open fires was similar to that of roadside particulate matter and outdoor commuting exposure. Open fire pollution 'increases chance of dementia'. Pollution from open fires inside the home can increase the risk of suffering dementia dramatically, an alarming study has revealed. Note that the problem is not just open fires, but all sources of air pollution, including the pollution from wood stoves that pollutes the air inside the homes of people living nearby. Research in Sweden found that wood-fire stoves can cause dementia. “We have seen that people who live in areas where wood-fire stoves are common run a greater risk of being affected, and that also goes for people who live next to someone who uses wood-fire stoves,” said Anna Oudin, a researcher in occupational and environmental medicine at Umea University’s department of public health and clinical medicine. "The risk for residents living in areas with the highest rate of smoke from wood fires to be hit by dementia, or dementia-related diseases, was 30% higher compared to other residents in the town of Umea. "In households that had their own wood-fire stoves the risk was 70% higher." Journal paper: Association between air pollution from residential wood burning and dementia incidence in a longitudinal study in Northern Sweden. November 2020. Transformative investment in energy efficiency to supercharge Victoria’s recovery The Andrews Government’s massive new energy efficiency upgrade effort will fix poor quality homes, create thousands of jobs and improve the health and wellbeing of Victorians, according to the Energy Efficiency Council ... "Upgrading the heating and cooling of social housing, rental properties and hundreds of thousands of other homes will slash people’s energy bills and save lives,” said Luke Menzel. “Poor quality homes can have big health impacts. A major program in New Zealand to improve the homes of low income households delivered massive savings to their health system, with an estimated $7 in benefits for every $1 invested by the government, largely through reductions in mortality,” said Luke Menzel. If this program funds affordable, heating with low running costs, fewer households will emit harmful wood smoke pollution, saving even more lives! October 2020. Copenhagen mayor wants to ban wood-burning stoves Copenhagen Mayor Frank Jensen wants to reduce air pollution by banning new wood-burning stoves and offering householders a cash incentive to scrap their old stoves ... one study has estimated that 77 premature deaths in 2014 could be directly attributed to particle emissions from wood-burning stoves. With one study of the Sydney metro area suggesting 100 premature deaths in Sydney every year from wood stoves and Table 1 of another suggesting an even higher estimate of 153 premature deaths per year, is it time for a similar approach here? July 2020. Three chimney fires within an hour - Hawke's Bay firefighters. "We initially had reports of a house fire, but the property's chimney flume hadn't been cleaned, so it resulted in a blocked flume," Cooper said. It resulted in a smoke-logged property and the occupant received some treatment for smoke inhalation." A high percentage of home owners were unaware they should get their chimneys cleaned once a year. "I've experienced insurance companies saying that if a fire starts and the occupant hadn't cleaned it out in five years, they'd ask some questions. July 2020. The World's Worst Air Isn't in Beijing or New Delhi. Every winter, sleepy Temuco plunges to the bottom of global air
quality rankings. While notoriously polluted megacities such as Beijing
and New Delhi have populations almost 100 times that of the tiny
Chilean town, contributing to round the clock traffic and factory
activity, Temuco’s contamination doesn’t come from economic activity.
It comes from poverty. June though August, when the Southern Hemisphere is in winter, thermometers in Temuco drop to as low as 4º Celsius
(39º Fahrenheit). Poor temuquenses, as the city’s 220,000 residents
are known, have no choice but to burn cheap—often wet—firewood to keep
warm.... As the air gets worse, so do a range of health ailments. It’s a cycle Fernando Lana says he’s seen play out every winter in the 40 years he’s worked as a cardiologist in Temuco. “There’s almost a perfect correlation between contamination levels and visits to the doctor for heart diseases or cardiac failure,” Lana says.... A report by Temuco’s city hall and the local Universidad de la Frontera linked a sudden decline in temperatures and the increase in air pollution to a doubling of new coronavirus cases reported daily at the end of March. |