[Greenbuilding] Wood is the #1 domestic renewable energy source in the U.S., by far
Norbert Senf
mheat at mha-net.org
Wed Sep 25 20:44:34 CDT 2013
At 04:23 PM 9/25/2013 -0400, Gennaro Brooks-Church - Eco Brooklyn wrote:
>I don't know what to think about wood for
>heating. Apart from the fancy combustion stoves,
>burning wood lets off massive amounts of gases no?
>
>On Wednesday, September 25, 2013, Norbert Senf wrote:
Hi Gennaro:
Wood gives off CO2, like any fuel other than
uranium and hydrogen. However, it absorbs CO2 via
photosynthesis when it grows, so is close to
carbon neutral. That makes it renewable.
The main issue with burning wood is air pollution
from incomplete combustion, and the associated
health issues. Actually, you can achieve
virtually complete combustion with wood these
days, and there are lots of new stoves that can
do it. Unfortunately, there is also some
unbelievably bad crap out there, such as the
outdoor boilers. It is important to be able to
distinguish between the two, since the bad actors
have given woodburning a bad name in the public's
mind. Also, it is a "hands on" technology that
requires getting off the couch, and also a bit of learning.
In Germany, biomass combustion including domestic
wood heating is an important component of the
government's greenhouse gas reduction strategy
(note that the US and Canada don't even have a
strategy other than PR BS). As such, they
recognize that emissions are a serious concern.
To address this, they have developed an advanced
program to minimize emissions. A new regulation
kicks in this year requiring every stove in the
country to get an on-site emissions test, using
new technology samplers that were developed for
that specific purpose. In fact, the regulation
was contingent on the development of the
samplers. We will use one of the new samplers for
testing the entries in the Woodstove Decathlon,
on The National Mall in DC this November.
For a large part of the US and Canada, heating
with wood is the lowest hanging fruit in terms of
reducing your personal carbon footprint.
Norbert
-------------------------------------------
Norbert Senf---------- mheat(at)heatkit.com
Masonry Stove Builders
25 Brouse Rd.
RR 5, Shawville------- www.heatkit.com
Québec J0X 2Y0-------- fax:-----819.647.6082
---------------------- voice:---819.647.5092
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