Thats a bit crazy as heating france rather than your dwelling is far less preferable on all levels from polution inside and out to the additional volume of fuel required to achieve the same temperature.
I have central heating via a heat pump, but I keep it low and I tend to wear lots of jerseys. I have open fires because I like them, latent pyromania, who knows. I only use 3 of my fireplaces regularly and they all have big heavy traps in the flue for when they arenât in use.
My house is sprawling and about 400 years old so not very practical.
The films are better on an open fire; they smell better, too.
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Good videos with crackling wood sounds.
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Depends what nationality the politician is. I wouldnât expect to get many British Thermal Units out of a smouldering Macron.
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First post here! Hi everyone.
My 2pâs-worth on the effects of wood smoke - I lived in northern Thailand for 10+ years, and after the first 18 months, had to move south to the coast because of the smoke pollution. The PM2.5 particulates are the main culprits - generally speaking, a âsafeâ level is considered to be 25 and under (per cubic metre of air). Because of the burning of agricultural biomass in SE Asia, from December through to May we regularly experienced anything from 10x to 40x that count! It was horrendous. Unbreathable. The only escape was by using air purifiers in virtually hermetically sealed homes, and rarely venturing out without a N99 mask.
Back home in rural France, the difference in air quality is huge - you can almost taste its freshness (PM2.5 = 17 right now in my village).
In Thailand Iâve seen studies that estimate up to 4 years is lost from average life expectancy, due to the single factor of air pollution.
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Do you have a wood burner so you have a figure for your own rooms?
I didnât realise that wood burning in the EU is subsidised as a renewable energy source. It sounds like that might be going to change.
I donât know how fast the RED will change. There was a key window of opportunity in a vote September 14th, as mentioned in Greta Thunbergâs article below. She also spells out the greenwash myth of wood being renewable. It may be, but not in a timeframe useful to meet any climate agreements.
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And another one on burning wood and its material impact on carbon:
However, that process of carbon take-up can take many decades. And in the furnace, burning wood releases more carbon dioxide per unit of energy than burning gas, oil, or even coal. By accelerating carbon dioxide emissions in the short term, burning wood for electricity could be fatal for statesâ ability to meet the Paris Agreement goal of keeping global heating to well below 2C by 2050.
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Is there any analysis of what percentage of the global pollution caused by burning wood comes from domestic wood burners in Western countries?
I read that over 2 billion people worldwide use open fires or inefficient stoves to cook. Is there any factual information on what contribution all the wood burners in France make to the global total?
They wonât be happy until all the poor people have frozen to death, will they? What do you do if you canât afford heat pumps, solar panels etc even with government help?
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I live in the PO where viticulture is rife. The vignerons burn the clippings when they trim the vines. The columns of smoke rise constantly and spread for miles. The air smells and sometimes the fog is so dense that we canât see across the valley. You try getting the vignerons to stop. Theyâll most likely set fire to the prefecture.
Yes I live here too and have noticed the fires. My family go out and collect the dry bits to store for BBQ next year as it burns very well and costs nothing unlike charcoal.
As far as PM10 and PM2.5 is concerned, which I believe is the major concern, itâs not a global concern, but a local one as these only pollute locally and are a direct health concern. As for CO2, although it is theoretically carbon neutral, itâs the time taken to recapture the CO2 from the atmosphere that is the main concern.
Crikey, thatâs just stupid. They certainly donât do that here. Itâs all composted, along with the grape skins and other waste from the process. You see big hills of compost here, some big enough to need diggers to turn them.
Edit: And Iâm not far from you in Aude, Cabardes/Minervois area.
The question I was asking was if anyone knew the percentage contribution French fires and wood-burning stoves make to the global total.
It seems to me that, unless we know whether, eg, itâs 0.0001% or 10%, we canât tell how important it is to move away from burning wood.
Yes, I understood the question, but for wood fires, itâs the wrong question. What percentage of global totals for PMs is of no importance. Itâs what local concentrations are that have meaning.
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It reads here as though some are conflating CO2 emissions with particulate pollution, and also mixing domestic burning of locally sourced new-growth timber with the wider problem of ancient forest being harvested under cover of sustainable energy.
Particle pollution as a problem may be a very local phenomenon, depending on geography and local weather, so that some areas may be able to burn timber with no hazard while the next valley over may have severe particle pollution.
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Ah - I get it now - thanks both!
Itâs less about pollution as part of global warming than local health problems.