Alternative Energy / Alternative Heat

[Butch(OH)]

This isn't the article I read before but another testing of 7 year old stoves.

http://www.omni-test.com/publications/Long-Term.pdf

Of interest to this thread is the following

"Of concern has been the fact that laboratory and field studies have shown that certified
wood heaters can physically degrade with use and their air emissions commensurately increase."

"deterioration of the catalyst over time was estimated to result in emissions from catalytic wood
heaters over their useful lifetimes approximately equal to non-catalyic wood heaters."

And

"The particulate emission factors of the certified Phase 2 stoves evaluated in this study
appear to have increased with use, but on the average, after about seven years they still have
lower emissions than uncertified conventional stoves. In addition, it was clear from the results
that the emission rates for Phase 2 stove models reported as part of the NSPS certification
process do not represent emission levels of same stove models inhomes after extended use."

I work with the EPA division of air quality here in Ohio on a steady basis and I understand their language. In words that us normal people would use in every day conversation that last quote should say

The emissions of the phase 2 stoves did indeed increase but still are somewhat lower than non regulated stoves when averaged by this test. (this tells me that some where higher or they would have said ALL stoves, not average.) AND FINALLY the last sentence, the truth comes out, well kind off.
They are not the same stoves after 7 years as they were when manufactured. In our words, they no longer do what you paid for and they are just like my dumb ole 1975 Arrow. So guess what is going to be next on the hit list boys??? your gen 2 stoves. Are you gonna turn them in or join the fight??

 

[ulyssesjones]

carbon

The issue isn’t really how much pollution is released when burning wood. Burning wood, even inefficiently, is better in the grand scheme of things. When you burn wood you release stored carbon into the air. This is the same carbon that would be released into the air if the wood just sat on the ground and decayed. Trees take in carbon and release oxygen. When they die they release their carbon back into the atmosphere that other trees and plants take in and convert to oxygen. When you burn wood you just release the carbon a bit faster but it is still the same finite amount of carbon. You are not creating new carbon. When you burn petroleum products (or coal, or natural gas) you are releasing carbon into the air that would otherwise have been locked in the earth never to see the light of day. Thus burning oil introduces new carbon into the atmosphere.

To sum up: Burning wood introduces no new carbon into the atmosphere. Burning petroleum products and the like introduces tons of new carbon into the atmosphere.

Wood = good
Oil = bad

-Jones

 

[logbutcher]

I may be all wet but I dont think there is much worry about the masses going to wood heat and thus deforesting the country for two reasons. 1. the cost of processed firewood does not leave much left over to pay for equipment and 2, darned few have the ambition to cut and split the required cords per year. The last time there was a large surge in wood burning, sometime in the 70s during the "energy crisis" the vast bulk of the equipment was on yard sales or rusting in just a couple years. I still have an Arrow woodstove that mom purchasd for pennies on the dollar after the panic (and ambition) was over with.

Nailed it Butch ! :agree2:

 

[avalancher]

I may be all wet but I dont think there is much worry about the masses going to wood heat and thus deforesting the country for two reasons. 1. the cost of processed firewood does not leave much left over to pay for equipment and 2, darned few have the ambition to cut and split the required cords per year. The last time there was a large surge in wood burning, sometime in the 70s during the "energy crisis" the vast bulk of the equipment was on yard sales or rusting in just a couple years. I still have an Arrow woodstove that mom purchasd for pennies on the dollar after the panic (and ambition) was over with.

Funny that you should mention that now. I was talking with the local saw shop guys last night and they were all laughing about all the saws flowing out of the shop. Lots of homeowners buying way to big of a saw because of the panic in our local area (our local electric company just announced a 25 percent increase in power starting in October).
According to the old timers down at the shop, a year or two from now will be the ideal time to pick up some great deals on big saws, woodsplitters, etc after folks adjust to the new cost of power and discover how much work it is to cut their own wood. One customer came back to the shop with a Husky 3120 that he had bought elsewhere and wanted to trade it in on a smaller Stihl. he complained that the 3120 with a 30 inch bar was too heavy for him to cut with. He had never run a saw before, and the dealer that sold him the saw told him that it was better to have to big of a saw than to little. The local shop gave him 600 bucks on trade in for a new saw, a saw that still had the majority of the paint on the bar