Updated
Ruling of EPA last FEB on
The federal
Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday released the long-awaited
EPA rules aimed at reducing air pollution from wood-burning heaters,
including wood stoves, pellet stoves and both indoor and outdoor wood boilers.
The rules
in general will require many stove makers to begin producing heaters that are
less polluting beginning this year, and up to 70 percent cleaner by 2020. The
new emission limits target fine particles and toxic compounds associated with smog
and various health concerns.
The new
standards update existing emissions levels set in 1988. Since then, new
technology has made it possible to build wood heaters that are more efficient
and less polluting, the agency says.
The new
rules don’t cover stoves or heaters already in people’s homes, nor do they
extend to indoor fireplaces.
The EPA
rules also allow time for stores to sell stoves that meet the 1988 levels,
through the end of 2015.
The
wood-heating trend is good for cutting energy bills, but not for air quality.
Older wood stoves, especially, churn out more of the pollution that aggravates
asthma and other respiratory conditions than the oil and gas heating systems
they’re meant to supplement or replace.
The new
rules are based on thousands of comments, a public hearing and months of input
from businesses. They have been of intense interest to Nature’s Comfort.
Dave Nyhof,
the company’s president, said Wednesday that the new rules won’t have an impact
right away, because all Nature’s Comfort gasification stoves burn much cleaner
than the 1988 standards for non-catalytic stoves of 7.5 grams per hour. But the
EPA is calling for emissions to be cut to 2 grams per hour in 2020.
The trade
group, the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, had a mixed reaction. It
applauded the EPA’s decision to phase in standards for warm-air wood furnaces
and give manufacturers time to develop and test cleaner models.
“Conversely,”
the group said in a statement, “we believe the agency missed the mark in other
areas. For example, some of the future standards proposed for wood-burning
appliances do not meet the government’s duty to set standards based on data
that shows both a tangible benefit to consumers and cost-effectiveness.”
The
association added: “Our industry does not oppose new emission standards. We
simply want to ensure that these future standards produce a real clean-air
benefit that consumers can afford. We will continue to work with EPA and other
stakeholders to address our remaining concerns.”
The new
wood-burning rules were generally embraced, however, by an advocacy group in
“Overall,
we think the EPA did a good job and released a fair rule that includes many
compromises between industry and air quality agencies,” said John Ackerly,
president of the
Ackerly
called the 2-gram-an-hour standard for stoves in 2020 “fair and reasonable,”
and likely to lead to more and improved catalytic stoves.
“We think
delaying the standards for warm air furnaces for one to two years was a
mistake,” he said.
The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed updates to its air emissions
standards for new residential wood heaters. This move will help strengthen the
agency’s requirements for new wood stoves plus will also develop air standards
for new pellet stoves and several other types of new wood heaters for the first
time. This will take affect from 2015 up to a 5 year period.
But there
is a huge uproar from people that are actually using wood stoves and wood
heaters as we speak. Is the EPA trying to freeze millions of Americans relying
on wood stoves and wooden fireplaces for heat and energy in the winter? The
rule is very straightforward. It wants to reduce air emissions for new
residential wood heaters and because of this; the rule will not affect existing
wood heaters and wood stoves at all.
Another
question raised by consumers is will the rule affect wood heaters and wood
stoves that are being sold today? The same answer applies; the new rule will
not affect stoves and heaters that run on wood which are currently on sale
today. But of course, with the new rule to be implemented in 2015 for new wood
stoves and heaters, why would anyone purchase non-compliant stoves at all?
So
technically, this rule readies stove and heater manufacturers as they develop
new products that use wood for their customers. It also makes sure that
consumers are ready too especially consumers that are looking at purchasing new
stoves and heaters in the near future.
Here are
the proposed requirements of the EPA regarding new wood stoves as well as
pellet stoves.
Traditional
wood stoves are made from cast iron or steel and utilize split logs to provide
heat. With the new EPA’s proposed updates, the amount of particle pollution or
particle matter will significantly reduce and this will reduce the amount of
particle pollution, also known as particulate matter (PM). The update will
apply on two types of newly manufactured wood stoves: adjustable burn‐rate woodstoves; and single burn‐rate woodstoves. Pollutants that are also present in wood
smoke are also expected to reduce as the new rules are implemented.
Another
type of wood stoves is stoves with an adjustable burn rate. These are covered
by the existing EPA requirements. These stoves are designed to allow the user
to efficiently adjust the air flow to regulate the rate at which wood burns
inside the system. In the new EPA rule, efficiency of these stoves will be
strengthened and limits for these stoves in two steps which will happen over a
five‐year period.
Step 1 –
particulate matter emissions limits would be identical to those currently
required by the 3rd State of
Step 2 –
woodstoves would have to meet strengthened emissions limits. When it comes to
single burn wood stoves that are not covered by EPA’s current requirements,
these are designed so the owner does not need to adjust the air flow. These
would have to meet the same emission limits as adjustable burn‐rate stoves.
Pellet
stoves are stoves that look like wood stoves use fuel made of ground, dried
wood and other biomass wastes. These materials are compressed in the form of
pellets. Pellet stoves may or may not need electricity to operate. Most models
of pellet stoves are exempted from EPA current New Source Performance Standards
(NSPS) for Residential Wood Heaters. But under the proposed rule, all pellet
stoves should meet the same emission limits as for woodstoves along with using
the same two‐step process.
EPA is
currently seeking comment on phasing in the proposed emissions limits over an
eight year period.
How the EPA
determines compliance to the new rule is met:
Each wood
stove and pellet stove model line that is subjected to the proposed rules would
be required to demonstrate compliance. This is done through performance testing
and tests are very similar to requirements of the current wood stove
regulations. This certification program requires one representative appliance
to be tested by an accredited laboratory for compliance of an entire model
line.
The
proposed rule will include test methods that manufacturers would have to use to
determine particle material emissions and demonstrate compliance.
To
strengthen compliance assurance and consumer confidence, the proposed standards
require testing by international laboratories and certification bodies. A
review of the tests will also be done by EPA and results will be made available
through to consumers in its official website.