Off the Grid News – by Daniel Jennings
Starting next fall it will be illegal to install wood-burning heaters and stoves in new homes in at least one major American city: San Francisco.
Even wood stoves certified as low emission by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be banned.
“We are serious about reducing the health risks associated with our residents’ exposure to wood smoke,” Kristine Roselius, a spokeswoman for the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, told theContra Costa County Times. “We are strengthening a rule that has been successful in protecting public health.”
All 22 members of the district’s board of directors voted to amend regulations to bar the installation of wood-burning heaters in new homes starting November 1, 2016. The district consists of the nine counties that surround San Francisco Bay and includes: San Francisco County, Alameda County (Oakland), Contra Costa County, Napa County, Santa Clara County (San Jose), San Mateo County, Southwestern Solano County and Southern Sonoma County.
Fireplaces Already Illegal
Wood-burning heaters will still be allowed in existing homes, the Contra Costa Times reported, although sellers must give buyers a form explaining the “health risks” or burning smoke.
A ban on traditional fireplaces already was in place in the region.
The board also voted to end all automatic exemptions to its existing wood-burning ban, including one that exempts people who live in areas with no natural gas lines. Currently, such residents are exempt on high-pollution days. People living in areas with no natural gas will have to file for an exemption.
Some members of the board wanted to go farther. Earlier this year a measure that would have required home owners to get rid of old-fashioned fireplaces and wood stoves before placing a home on the market was rejected.
An Overreaction
John Crouch, a spokesman for the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, criticized the new rule.
“I think this is an overreaction,” Crouch told the newspaper. “I don’t think other pollution boards will take this approach.” (Listen to Off The Grid Radio’s in-depth interview with Crouch here.)
The district’s action is part of a growing movement to ban or restrict wood burning in the United States and Canada. Ban proponents believe that wood burning fills the air with fine particle pollutants that can cause health problems such as asthma, bronchitis, heart attacks and strokes. The installation of new wood-burning heaters has been illegal in Montreal since 2009.
Critics say such laws are government overreach lacking common sense – and note that people have heated their homes with wood for thousands of years.
“It seems that even wood isn’t green or renewable enough anymore,” columnist Larry Bell wrote onForbes.com “… [It’s] the oldest heating method known to mankind and mainstay of rural homes and many of our nation’s poorest residents.”
About 12 percent of all homes rely primarily on wood, Bell said, quoting census data.
It looks as if burning wood for heat could soon become an endangered species in many parts of North America.
http://www.offthegridnews.com/current-events/a-ban-on-heating-your-home-with-wood-its-happening/
Stop spraying chemtrails and do away with major corporate pollution then I might consider not heating with wood. But probably not. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2dldEyRS7k
Works well with hemp rope as well Swifty. 😀
🙂
“About 12 percent of all homes rely primarily on wood, Bell said, quoting census data.”
That will change drastically once the SHTF.
I don’t care what the EPA says… If it comes down to survival and me staying warm to survive in minus – 15 degree temps through winter.
I will be using these faggot kike blowers for fuel…
I’ve worked for these azzholes B4. They were the most retarded evil agency I ever experienced in my 25 + IT career. Fine we’ll use you for fuel. Might burn cleaner than wood. I guess its a win win… you fkn tards.
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Agreed Flee.
I built and use a rocket mass heater. That aint gonna change despite what these air babies say!! I say be careful using these freaks for fuel. You don’t know were they’ve been, the air will surely be poisoned, and the smell of burning fecal matter intolerable!
It’s ok we can still heat our homes with dried corpses of commies from DC. They burn really quick though because of the high bull shit content.
God damn right!
I thought that its been illegal there for the past 6 or 7 years… thats what I’ve heard.
been saveing up the cow chips all summer. dam they burn good.
“A Ban On Heating Your Home With Wood”
No problem: Rocket stove mass heaters
http://www.richsoil.com/rocket-stove-mass-heater.jsp
http://www.mha-net.org/docs/v8n2/wildac09f.htm
http://www.inspirationgreen.com/rocket-mass-heaters.html
What !? You need permission? Not in this world.
Rocket stoves are awesome. I have one built.. but I’m scared it will burn so hot that I’ll be barbecued in my trailer.
I’m saving it until I get a bigger place built to put it in.
Smart man you are. Being so heavy, they need to rest on stable ground or have structural reinforcement from underneath, plus they do burn so hot they could probably be adapted for some types of heat-treated manufacture.
MIDDLE FINGER!!!!!