Focus on Wood

Responsible Wood Burning Policy

The HPBAC Board of Directors recently issued a policy paper for Responsible Wood Burning in order for staff and the board of directors to articulate a consistent and clear message when dealing with government agencies and other groups on regulation. The paper was mailed to all members in August and is available on www.hpbacanada.org . Please take a moment to read through the paper and if you have any comments, please contact your local HPBAC Board Representative or our office at 1-800-792-5284.

Burn it Smart

HPBAC completed three contracts with Ontario Region of Environment Canada as part of the Burn it Smart campaign. Workshops were held in many regions of the province but a highlight of the tour was presentations to the Wood Lot Owners Association at their annual meeting in Lindsay. HPBAC also delivered workshops in two New York locations as part of an agreement with USEPA. This year workshops will be held in Southwestern and North Central Ontario with special forays into Michigan. In the west, the BC ministry and WETBC will be working together to host Burn it Smart workshops around the province.

A follow-up telephone survey was conducted this spring with workshop participants from the 2001 Great Woodstove Changeout and Education Program in the Georgian Bay Watershed. We contacted 130 participants to poll them on changes in their wood burning practices since they attended the workshops four years ago. We had some interesting results which can be viewed on our website hpbacanada.org.

Libby, Montana – Lincoln County Wood Stove Changeout Program Under Way

Libby, Montana is located in a PM2.5 non-attainment area that air quality monitoring has shown to be mainly a result of wood smoke, Libby is subject to a number of requirements to reduce particulate pollution. It is estimated there are over 1,200 non-EPA wood-burning stoves in the area. Over the past year HPBA has underwritten air quality monitoring to obtain emission statistics for Libby.

With unemployment high due to the closure of several large lumber and plywood plants and a number of homeowners on government assistance, the prospect of replacing old wood stoves in the community within the three year deadline was not good, until the EPA came to HPBA with a proposal. To compound things, over 200 townspeople have died and at least 1,000 have been diagnosed with asbestos-related disease due to the lethal nature of the asbestos fibers found in the vermiculite mined in Libby since 1923.


This fall 300 of the homeowners who can least afford a new wood-burning system will have their old stoves changed out at no cost. This effort has been made possible primarily through hearth industry funding. Many industry members have made contributions to the project. In 2006, the remaining 900 to 1000 old stoves will be changed out with the homeowners sharing some in the cost of their new appliance.

Once the changeouts have been completed, air quality monitoring will document the benefit of replacing old wood-burning appliances with advanced technology systems. The EPA estimates there are more than 8 million old stoves in operation in the U.S. that need to be replaced and are hoping to conduct 40 changeouts in other non-attainment areas over the next year.

Rebates for Pellet Stoves in New U.S. Energy Policy Act

There was good news for the pellet industry in the passing of the new U.S. Energy Policy Act which was signed by President Bush on August 8th. The Act includes a 25% point of purchase rebate on pellet appliances up to $3000, including installation. Congress has yet to appropriate funds for the programs in the Act but will begin work on this when they return from their August recess. Once the Act comes into effect, HPBA will be working with Congressman Bass’ office to produce a press release outlining the program. While pellets are the obvious winner, the wording of the bill suggests that wood stoves with a thermal efficiency of 75% or greater would also be eligible for the rebate – manufacturers should stay tuned.

Wood Heat in the News

The October issue of Cottage Life magazine contains a great article on heating cottages with wood called Different Stokes. The issue is on newsstands now.