Environmental Issue: Wood Burning
Fireplaces
Environmental
Psychology considers two issues with wood burning
fireplaces.
- You want to enjoy your home environment for
emotional support.
- On the other hand, you want to save the
environment.
If you plan to move to a new home or
to build a home, you may draw a line through a fireplace
as a necessity. Although people love the warmth,
comforting crackling sounds, aromas, and moving light a
wood burning fire provides, fireplaces can emit polluted
air into your home and into your neighborhood.
Most home shoppers request a fireplace. Home buyers
desire a hearth, which symbolizes home. Families gather
around the fireplace during holiday celebrations and
quiet conversations. Book lovers enjoy curling up next
to a fire on a cool afternoon. Many new homes feature
fireplaces in the main bedroom. After all, what’s more
romantic than a fire?
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, wood-burning
fireplaces emit nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide,
organic gases, and particulate matter. These pollutants
can cause serious health problems for children, pregnant
women, and people with respiratory problems. Like
cigarette smoke, some of these elements contain
cancer-causing properties.
Some urban cities have considered banning wood-burning
fireplaces altogether to stem the flow of pollutants in
the smog-filled air. Some California cities and counties
have enacted local ordinances to limit the growing wood
smoke problem. Mammoth Lakes, Squaw Valley, Cloverdale,
Fresno, and many cities and counties in the Bay Area
permit installation of only U.S.EPA certified wood-fired
appliances in all new construction. Since 1991, the Bay
Area AQMD has issued advisories for a voluntary no-burn
program on poor air quality nights, "Spare the Air
Tonight."
But wait! Solutions exist so you can enjoy your fire. To
keep pollutants from entering your room air, you can
install a certified clean-burning fireplace insert and a
glass screen. Buy a carbon monoxide monitor and an
oxygen-depletion sensor to ensure safe air. The new
fireplace systems keep pollutants from leaving your
chimney.
Other considerations for you to ponder include the
source of heating for your home. What happens when
natural gas demand outpaces production? Prices
skyrocket. And if your heat comes from a coal-burning
electrical plant, doesn't the burning coal produce
toxins that pollute the air?
If you're building a new home, consider installing a
Pellet Stove, the most efficient and least polluting of
the new stove designs. Pellet Stoves provide less than 1
gram per hour of particulate emissions. Most of these
stoves require electricity and burn compressed
wood waste formed into pellets.
Be kind to yourself and to the environment with your
home heating. When you light up your fire, consider
these environmental issues.
Copyright © Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights
reserved.
Environmental Design Psychology Ideas for Homemakers
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