Communitys Wood-Heated Homes Alaska Forum on the Environment - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

A Safer Hearth: Tools to Raise Awareness and Lower Risk in Your Community’s Wood-Heated Homes

Alaska Forum on the Environment Tuesday, February 4th, 2014

Today’s Topics:

• 1. Welcome and Introductions
• 2. Background:
• A. Key Information on Factors that Affect Heating

with Wood - Bob Gorman, University of Alaska Fairbanks and Leif Albertson,

University of Alaska Fairbanks

• B. Key Information on Health Effects of Heating

with Wood – Gillian Mittelstaedt, Tribal Healthy Homes Network; Ali

Hamade, Alaska Division of Public Health

• 3. Tools that to Raise Awareness and Lower Risk
• 4. Insights, Questions and Resources

• “Heating with wood …is proving to be the

workhorse of residential renewable energy production.” -John Ackerly, Alliance for Green Heat

• G. Gawne-Mittelstaedt, Tribal Healthy

Homes Northwest

• The fluctuating and high cost of fossil fuels

continues to put pressure on families.

August 27, 1990… December 6, 2012…

• G. Gawne-Mittelstaedt, Tribal Healthy

Homes Northwest

carbon monoxide 80-370 methane 14-25 VOCs* (C2-C7) 7-27 aldehydes 0.6-5.4 substituted furans 0.15-1.7 benzene 0.6-4.0 alkyl benzenes 1-6 acetic acid 1.8-2.4 formic acid 0.06-0.08 nitrogen oxides 0.2-0.9 sulfur dioxide 0.16-0.24 methyl chloride 0.01-0.04 napthalene 0.24-1.6

substituted napthalenes 0.3-2.1

• xygenated monoaromatics

1-7 total particle mass 7-30 particulate organic carbon 2-20

• xygenated PAHs

0.15-1 Individual PAHs 10-5-10-2

chlorinated dioxins

1x10-5-4x10-5 normal alkanes (C24-C30) 1x10-3-6x10-3 sodium 3x10-3-2.8x10-2 magnesium 2x10-4-3x10-3 aluminum 1x10-4-2.4x10-2 silicon 3x10-4-3.1x10-2 sulfur 1x10-3-2.9x10-2 chlorine 7x10-4-2.1x10-2

Over 90% of

woodsmoke particles are smaller than 1 micron - behaving more like a gas than a particle.

Electron micrograph of wood smoke

• particles. Bar = 1 μm.

“The small diameters of the primary particles provide a large surface area per mass.… Thus, carbon aggregates may act as carriers that transport toxic or biologically active compounds into the lung.

(Dasch, 1982; Evans et al., 1981; Tesfaigzi et al., 2002). (Kocbach, 2008)

Woodsmoke components are detected in our bloodstream and exhaled breath within 60 seconds of inhaling it…

Forchhammer et al, 2012

Tobacco Smoke

Polluted Air Wood Smoke

“…wood smoke particulates were found to be more powerful than other kinds of air pollution in causing potentially cancerous changes to DNA Journal of Chemical Research in

Toxicology Steffen Loft

The white area shows where cancer-causing woodsmoke chemicals altered and damaged the DNA in lung cells.

A regional study showed that average fine particle levels were up to 26 percent higher in wood-burning houses compared to non-wood burning houses. Benzene levels were 29 percent

• higher. Average levels of

cancer-causing PAHs were 300 to 500 percent higher.

An EPA study found that breathing woodsmoke during a high pollution day is the same as smoking 4 to 16 cigarettes.

Today’s Topics:

• 1. Welcome and Introductions
• 2. Background:

A. Key Information on Factors that Affect Heating with Wood - Bob Gorman, University of Alaska Fairbanks and Leif Albertson, University of Alaska Fairbanks B. Key Information on Health Effects of Heating with Wood

– Gillian Mittelstaedt, Tribal Healthy Homes Network; Ali Hamade, Alaska Division of Public Health

• 3. Tools to Raise Awareness and Lower Risk
• 4. Insights, Questions and Resources

14% 32% 36% 18%

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40%

Less of a Concern About the Same Level of Concern More of a Concern Significant Concern

Chart 1: Perceived Risk of Woodsmoke Relative to Other Indoor Air Exposures

80% 64% 52% 30% 20% 14%

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Irritant to Eyes, Nose, Lungs Makes Asthma Worse Causes or Makes Infections Worse Can Cause Cancer Can Cause Heart Attacks Can Cause Strokes

Chart 2: Perceived Health Risks Associated with Woodsmoke

16% 18% 14% 32% 9% 39% 0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% Woodstove Change-Out Supply Cured/Dry Wood Stove Inspection and Repair Promote Clean Burning Practices Promote Alternative Heat Sources Educate Community about Hazards

Chart 3: Type and Frequency of Interventions Used in Villages

Tool #1: Moisture Meter

Tool #2: Woodshed Blueprints

Tool #3: Chimney Thermometer

Tool #4: Woodstove Checklist

Tool #5: Air Filters

http://www.epa.gov/iaq/pubs/residair.html

EPA... “Air cleaning may have a useful role when used in conjunction with source control and ventilation with clean

• utdoor air.”