Challenges to new heat stoves standards
John Ackerly
Alliance for Green Heat
Warsaw Stove Summit
May 29 – 30, 2017
AGH is a non-profit advocacy group that
• Advocates for stricter emissions and
efficiency standards
• Monitors the stove industry & exposes false
advertising
• Is independent of industry and funded by
government and private grants.
• Our flagship program is the Wood Stove
Design Challenge that seeks to promote
automated wood stoves.
Census map of primary per
capita wood heating.
 10 – 13 million households
use wood stove
 2.5 million use them as
primary heaters
 In hundreds of rural counties,
50% of homes have wood
PM2.5 map from wood
combustion.
 PM 2.5 from wood smoke
correlates in part to type of
device.
 Great Lake states are ground
zero for unregulated outdoor
wood boilers.
U.S. Emission standards
•
•
•
•
1988: 7.5 grams an hour
1995: 4.5 grams an hour in Wash. state
2015: 4.5 grams an hour nationwide
2020: 2 grams an hour or 2.5 with cordwood
Cookstoves and coal stoves exempt
• Coal stoves are exempt from emission
standards in the US. Annual sales are too low
for resources it takes to regulate them.
• Wood cookstoves also exempt, but can be
tested just like heat stoves and some are now
EPA certified.
Industry perspective
Objections to strict emission standards include:
1. Problem is with old, pre-certified stoves, not
new ones. Focus on gains from 20 grams to
4.5 grams, not 4.5 grams to 2 grams.
2. Test method not exact enough to reliably
determine a 2 gram an our stove
3. EPA did not have sufficient data to set a 2.5
gram an hour standard for cordwood
Industry response
• 1. Judicial. HPBA filed a lawsuit in federal
court to prevent 2020 standards from taking
effect
• 2. Congress. HPBA had legislation introduced
to delay 2020 standards until 2023
• 3. White House/EPA. Industry is exploring
whether the Trump administration could
provide relief.
• 4. Redesign stoves. Most companies are
already hedging their bets by preparing to
meet 2020 standards, but some are waiting to
see if strategy #1, #2 and/or #3 succeeds
before addressing all of their product line.
What industry needs
• 1. Certainty and clarity. This means having
sufficient, knowledgeable staff at EPA who can
handle questions in a timely way.
• 2. A fair playing field. Knowing that EPA will
hold all manufacturers and importers to same
standard.
• 3. Enforcement. Knowledge that there will be
financial penalties for non-compliance.
• 4. A reasonable federal standard. Industry is
fearful of states adopting different emission
and/or test standards or banning sale of certain
certified heaters.
Dangers to reducing wood smoke
• Test labs increase gaming of the system, where they
find subtle ways of getting passing numbers.
• New loopholes emerge and are not challenged by the
EPA, states or enviro groups in court.
• Pyrrhic victories. For example: regulating wood
stoves in the US but not outdoor boilers.
• Lack of funding. Federal gov’t doesn’t prioritize
funds to change out old stoves.
• State & local gov’t inaction. Unless an area is in or
approaching non-attainment, many states or areas
with wood smoke problems may do little to address
the problem. For instance, state governments in
Great Lakes regions may be more likely to protect
industry than to protect their citizens’ health.
Solutions
1. Test methods that reflect how stoves are used,
including cold start & reloads & similar fuel
2. Test labs: Verification, transparency & oversight
Companies paying for testing of their products
creates inherent conflicts of interest risks.
Live, public streaming video and audio of
certification testing is one solution
More round robin testing
3. Automated stoves need aggressive promotion
Oxygen sensors and controls need to balance
primary and secondary air, not the homeowner.
Without automation with cordwood, pellet
stoves will be only reliably clean option.
Coal stove R&D and testing
• EPA is now undertaking research not necessarily to
regulate coal stoves but because they need to replace
stoves in the Navajo reservation, where sub-bituminous
coal is used.
• Draft a test method for coal stoves that use anthracite and
sub-bituminous coal. This has just been done.
• Undertake emission studies on existing coal stoves in the
US. This is currently being done and funded by the EPA.
• Solicit manufacturers to try to build cleaner coal stoves
and see which ones are the cleanest.
• 3 stoves installed to collect data in winter of 16-17
• This winter, we hope to install 20 – 40 to collect much
more consumer feedback, indoor air quality data, etc.
Polish stoves available in Warsaw
Directive 2009/125 / EC of the
European Parliament and of the
Council. Ekoprojekt refers not only
to furnaces or heat pumps, but
also to all wood heating stove and
boilers. Effective in Poland in
2022?
2018 Wood Stove
Design Challenge
• National Mall, Wash. DC, Nov., 2018
• Technology competition on:
a. automated stoves controlled by sensors
b. Thermo-electric stoves making electricity
• up to 30 kwh for light and recharging
• up to 100 kwh to recharge home battery
Thank you
John Ackerly – [email protected]
Alliance for Green Heat
Takoma Park, MD
www.forgreenheat.org
301-204-9562