The U-S Environmental Protection Agency is pressing ahead with regulations to significantly limit the pollution from newly manufactured wood stoves. In an effort to cut down on health threatening particulate air pollution, the EPA rules for new wood stove emissions go into effect May 15th.
But in Washington State, stoves already have to be pretty clean. Lisa Woodard is with the Spokane Regional Clean Air agency, who says the state has mandated stoves to meet the newest standards since 1995.
Woodard: “Right now the non-catalytic wood stove standard is 4.5, which matches the new EPA standard effective May 15th. However in 2020, that 4. 5 grams per hour will drop to 2.5.”
Washington State is ranked ninth in terms of per capita pollution related to wood stove use. Woodard says even with the newer, cleaner burning stoves, it is always important to follow good guidelines to ensure you burn cleanly.
Woodard: "But because so much of it is operator dependent, we choose what kind f wood to put in and how much, air, a lot of it is dependent on the user.”
Woodard says wood that has been cured properly, and has a moisture content of under 20 percent not only puts out less emissions, but will out more heat. She says there devices available for sale to test the moisture content, or you can borrow them from the Regional Clean air agency.
About 10 percent of U.S. households burn wood, and the number relying on it as their primary heating source rose by nearly a third from 2005 to 2012, the latest year for which federal figures were available.
