Woodstove Emission Regulations Decrease Air Pollution

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PHOTO: FOTOLIA/BETSY BARANSKI
Woodstove emission regulations make changes in air quality.

Learn how woodstove emission regulations have improved air quality.

Federal Emission Regulations

During the 1980s, smoky, old woodstoves were blamed for ruining the air quality in a number of valley towns in the Northwest. In response, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) forced all new woodstoves to meet smoke emission limits that many observers thought were impossibly stringent. But over the years stove makers have not only managed to meet the limits, but have done so while improving overall stove performance because of the woodstove emission regulations. While it has been argued (sometimes even in these pages) that the EPA regulation is odious because it applies all over the country and unfairly penalizes rural folks in areas where there is no one close by to be bothered by their smoke, I think the EPAs intervention was one of the best things that ever happened to wood burning. Here are a few of the intentional and unintended benefits.

• Air pollution has been cut dramatically; about 90 percent compared to previous equipment.
• The regulations reduced the unsubstantiated performance claims and advertising hype that some manufacturers used.

  • Published on Dec 1, 2001
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