Re: Friam Digest, Vol 2, Issue 18

[Jack Stafurik]

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Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 9:49 PM
Subject: Friam Digest, Vol 2, Issue 18

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Burning wood is not a completely environmentally benign option. The
combustion creates POMs (polycyclic organic molecules) which can be
carcinogenic. These are particularly serious in the high efficiency fire
boxes, which also can be a source of carbon monoxide due to their "starving"
the combustion process. Your inefficient fireplace (about 10% or so
efficiency) is much better in this regard due to its generally more complete
combustion. The actual pollutants depend a lot on what you are burning. The
extreme example of this comes from where I grew up in New Jersey. Grass and
forest fires there could burn through large patches of poison ivy. If you
were unlucky enough to inhale at the wrong time, it could be a very
agonizing death.

I have read elsewhere that New Mexico and much of the Southwest has much
more forest now than in the 1800s. This is apparently due to the arrival of
large numbers of settlers, who fought the forest and range fires which
previously had kept Northern NM tree sparse. This is also true in Vermont
and parts of New Hampshire, which they claim have more forest now than they
did in the 1800s

Jack Stafurik

> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. Re: Score one for small-scale distributed power (Frank Wimberly)
>    2. Re: Score one for small-scale distributed power (Bruce Sawhill)
>    3. Re: Score one for small-scale distributed power (Owen Densmore)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 16 Aug 2003 05:20:56 -0400
> From: "Frank Wimberly" <[hidden email]>
> Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Score one for small-scale distributed power
> To: "The Friday Morning Complexity Coffee Group" <[hidden email]>
> Message-ID: <009101c363d7$b3c31190$660a0a0a@FRANKNOTEBOOK>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> My impression is that burning wood (esp. pine tar) causes noxious air
> pollution.  Anyone know for sure?  It smells good around here in December
> but...  How long would it take before the unwanted wood, say pinions

killed
> by bark beetles, runs out?  Would "we" be able to resist burning good
> timber?  In the lobby of the First National Bank of Santa Fe there are
> photos of the hills around Santa Fe taken in the late 1800's.  The density
> of the pinion and juniper was much less than it is today.  My friend Tom
> Noble thinks that's because everyone burned those trees for heat.  I am
more
> inclined to believe that there was something like a bark beetle
infestation
> before that time.
>