Pellet stoves are big polluters too

By -
In case you harbour the belief that pellet stoves are clean and green. This pattern of high air pollution in Kamloops at a location on the north shore is driven by a neighbour with a newer pellet stove.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

How clean are the emissions from a SUV?

By -
Image
In August 2015 we decided to test the PM 2.5 levels from a 2013 Ford Explorer with a V8 engine. The nephelometer (Radiance Research M90 )  was positioned 15cm away from the exhaust pipe on a calm day. After several minutes of readings on a warmed up engine, the PM 2.5 levels ranged between 8 and 11 with a modal response of approximately 8.5. Here's a photo of the experiment. This shows us how clean vehicles emissions are when compared to woodsmoke fires.   Paradoxically you would be safer (at least from a PM 2.5 perspective) breathing off this tailpipe like a snorkel than  living near a wood fire like this where readings have sometimes hit 200 (ten times the provincial limit).
Read more

The AQHI downplays exposures from particulate pollution

By -
How much is a human life worth? If you live in rural British Columbia or in resource-based communities like Kamloops you may be surprised to learn that your life is worth far less than someone from Vancouver or Victoria. Recent forest fires in the interior of BC, and the massive amounts of wood smoke produced, demonstrate how risk communication tools like the Air Quality Health Index (AQHI) are designed to treat differentially exposures across populations. The AQHI is a scale used in Canada to weigh the relative contribution of three air pollutants; namely, particulate matter in the 2.5 micron range (PM2.5), ground level ozone, and nitrogen dioxide. It normally ranges between 1-10 or from “low” to “very high” health risk but can reach numbers like 49 as was recorded on August 3, 2017, in Kamloops. The formula used for calculating the AQHI is straightforward and it involves using a three-hour average for these pollutants in micrograms/m 3 for PM2.5, and parts-per-billion (...
Read more

Press release - Wood Smoke is a Serious Health Hazard

By -
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Wood Smoke is a Serious Health Hazard (April 6, 2017, Vancouver, British Columbia)— Vicki Morell feels like a prisoner in her own home. And she warns that if it happened to her and her family, it can happen to you too.  The misery began 12 years ago when wood smoke from a neighbour’s fireplace began to permeate the Morell family’s home. The smoke gives Morell headaches and causes burning eyes and other health effects. “My wood-burning neighbours have told me that it is their right to burn wood,” said Morell. "But what about my right to breathe fresh clean air in my own home? I don’t understand why the right to burn wood outweighs another’s right to breathe clean air.” Morell used to think that closing windows would keep out the wood smoke, but she soon discovered that she was wrong. Wood smoke particles are far smaller than the width of a human hair — so tiny that, research has shown, the insides of nearby houses can wind up having ...
Read more