We were cold this past January. Our HVAC system requires electricity as well as gas to heat the house, so when the power went out, the temperature in our place dropped to 57 degrees. The previous owners had the fireplace and chimney set up for a fireplace insert, but the 400 lb. non-EPA certified insert was gathering rust in the backyard. So neither the fireplace nor the insert were usable. We spent much of the power outage in the kitchen, where the process of making meals over the gas stove helped keep us warm.
Fast forward to today, when we attended a meeting of the Butte County Air Quality Management District Board of Directors meeting at Chico City Hall. On the agenda was the consideration of staff recommendations to reduce particulate matter pollution--"P.M. 2.5" (fine particles of pollution less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter). The major sources of these particles are from vehicle use in the summer and from the burning of backyard burn piles and the use of wood stoves in the winter. As a result, Chico has the third worst air quality in the state behind Los Angeles and the southern San Joaquin Valley.
According to the latest research from the California Air Resources Board, it is estimated that exposure to PM 2.5 particulate pollution leads to between 14,000 and 24,000 premature deaths in California each year. These folks include the elderly and people already suffering from respiratory-related ailments such as asthma.
The staff recommendations to solve this problem included increasing public education efforts, enhancing the voluntary "Don't Light Tonight" program, and requiring home or business remodel projects of over $25,000 to replace or remove existing non-certified wood burning devices.
I don't think this won't be enough to make our air cleaner.
However, at $2500-$3000 each, requiring that everyone replace their old stoves with new , cleaner-burning EPA certified stoves is not realistic either. Besides, they still pollute. It is also not fair to tell people not to use a wood stove to heat their homes is this is their only means of staying warm.
What about gas stoves?--Well, then you are burning a fossil fuel. An electric space heater?--Now you are tied back to the grid (think power outage), and 43% of the electricity sold by PG&E comes from burning natural gas anyway.
So wood isn't such a bad choice. It cheap and renewable and effective. But it does pollute.
So is there a better way to deal with this issue that doesn't require shelling out $3000? I think so. I think that if we have the technology to cram 500 songs and a rechargeable battery into a device no bigger than a fig newton, they should be able to come up with a filter for a residential chimney. But they don't seem to exist.
Another solution is to require or subsidize programs to improve home insulation to reduce the number of hours a wood stove is required to be in operation. How much air pollution can be prevented with the effective use of $200 worth of weather stripping?. Also, people should be encouraged use a wood stove to heat only the smallest portion of their house necessary, such as a living room, rather than the entire home.
The big question is, how can we balance our right to clean air and our right to a heated living space? How much is each worth? Who should pay?
In the end, this past Monday we did write a large check for a slightly used EPA certified fireplace insert, which we will use sparingly as needed over the life of our home. This purchase came in the midst of forest fires that are causing some of worst air pollution in Chico's history. If irony was money. . .
