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Post by Tim on Jan 15, 2019 13:58:45 GMT
I was listening to the radio on the way home last night and they were talking about the possibility of legislation regarding wood burning devices in the home. According to the expert they interviewed firing up your shiny, brand new, super clean wood burner for an evening will put out as many nasty particulates as driving 6 shiny, brand new HGVs up and down your residential street for the same length of time!
I didn't know that. Perhaps its time to demonise something other than vehicular traffic.
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Post by michael on Jan 15, 2019 15:07:52 GMT
I think they're a ridiculous thing to have in an urban environment when you're connected to a gas supply but out in the sticks oil is generally used for heating supplemented by open fires or stoves. We've got three, I wouldn't be impressed by being taxed on them. Not sure how this squares with government subsidy of wood pellet fuelled boilers which amount to broadly the same thing.
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Post by ChrisM on Jan 15, 2019 15:12:36 GMT
I didn't know that. Perhaps its time to demonise something other than vehicular traffic. That's been the case for a long time but politicians conveniently choose to ignore it. Have a look at how much pollution one volcanic eruption puts into the atmosphere (e.g. volcanoes.usgs.gov/vhp/gas_climate.html or intlpollution.commons.gc.cuny.edu/volcanic-pollution/)What cows, or transportation, put into the atmosphere kind-of pales into insignificance - and we've just had a major eruption of "Son of Krakatoa", and Etna's not looking too good at the moment
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Post by Tim on Jan 15, 2019 16:10:30 GMT
I think they're a ridiculous thing to have in an urban environment when you're connected to a gas supply but out in the sticks oil is generally used for heating supplemented by open fires or stoves. We've got three, I wouldn't be impressed by being taxed on them. Not sure how this squares with government subsidy of wood pellet fuelled boilers which amount to broadly the same thing.
I agree with all of that and, presently, wish we DID have an open fire or wood stove to supplement our misbehaving oil-fired heating. However, since the house was built in the 1990s these things aren't in as standard we'd have to pay a fortune to get one added.
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Post by johnc on Jan 15, 2019 16:34:46 GMT
I know it's not very PC and it is always nice to have the higher moral ground but unless the whole world agrees a consensus on climate change and pollution anything we do in this country will be of very little good
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 15, 2019 17:01:47 GMT
As Michael says the use of these wood burning stoves in an urban environment (and inside the M25 ring road) is ridiculous. Smokeless zones need to be enforced otherwise we'll be going back to the 50s with pea soupers and people being hospitalised with breathing difficulties.
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Pollution
Jan 15, 2019 17:05:41 GMT
via mobile
Post by LandieMark on Jan 15, 2019 17:05:41 GMT
I would agree with that. I burn coal almost exclusively on our multi fuel, but would be happy to burn ovoids and sustainable wood if coal gets banned.
I need to order oil soon. I’m waiting until February then I won’t have to pay for it until March.
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Post by PG on Jan 15, 2019 18:15:47 GMT
Like all things, the answer is "it depends". A well designed wood burning stove, burning suitable dry timber (under 20% moisture), using a properly designed chimney or flue liner will create way, way fewer particulates than a crappy cheap stove, burning un-seasoned wood through a badly designed or very old unlined chimney. A bit like an old, badly maintained diesel engine will pollute way more than a new cleaner one.
I can't see the issue with demanding that stoves sold after a certain date meet certain emission standards. But all the other fluff is already covered, as far as I can see, by the 1993 Clean Air Act. If the council designate a clean air zone, you cannot emit smoke from your house. You are only allowed to burn smokeless fuel, or have a stove that is specifically designed for a clean air zone. So what is all the fuss in urban areas about? I'd have though that most of them are already clean air zones?
So it sounds like typical government of any kind mental process. Let's not bother to actually enforce the law we have, what we need is more law.
We have two wood burners toi supplement the oil central heating. We'd be stuffed without them. They are both Clearview Stoves models and are incredibly efficient.
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Post by johnc on Jan 15, 2019 18:32:14 GMT
What I'd like to know is how are the millions of homes with only gas central heating going to be heated once gas starts to run out? As I have said previously, gas central heating also produces more NOx than cars in urban areas so we need a cohesive view and a proper plan to make the future sustainable instead of just picking on the wee stove boy in the corner.
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Post by PG on Jan 15, 2019 19:25:48 GMT
What I'd like to know is how are the millions of homes with only gas central heating going to be heated once gas starts to run out? As I have said previously, gas central heating also produces more NOx than cars in urban areas so we need a cohesive view and a proper plan to make the future sustainable instead of just picking on the wee stove boy in the corner. "A cohesive view and a proper plan". Wouldn't that be nice. But this is politicians and the civil service we are talking about. So fat chance of that.
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Post by Bob Sacamano v2.0 on Jan 15, 2019 21:13:34 GMT
What I'd like to know is how are the millions of homes with only gas central heating going to be heated once gas starts to run out? As I have said previously, gas central heating also produces more NOx than cars in urban areas so we need a cohesive view and a proper plan to make the future sustainable instead of just picking on the wee stove boy in the corner. Gas won't run out. There's plenty of it. Even ignoring shale lack of gas is not something we need worry about this century. A modern, condensing boiler is so efficient that the NOX issue becomes practically non existent. It's the old boilers and the combis we need to phase out through boiler scrappage schemes.
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