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WATERBURY Seven wood-boiler manufacturers have agreed to make hydronic heaters that meet tough new federal air standards cutting particle emissions from the units a sharp 90 percent.
The Environmental Protection Agency's voluntary phase 2 program to reduce emissions from the wood heaters has been aimed at providing consumers with cleaner wood-burning alternatives, officials at its New England regional office said recently.
'Here in New England, while many families and businesses are choosing wood as their winter heating fuel source, the new phase 2 outdoor wood heaters will help people choose a model that is better for air quality than older, unqualified units,' Robert Varney, regional administrator of EPA's New England office, said.
EPA announced the more stringent phase 2 standards for wood boilers at an open-house event held recently in Waterbury. Cleaner units that comply with phase 2 emission levels no more than 0.32 pounds of particle pollution per million BTUs of heat output were showcased at the event.
EPA first launched its voluntary emission reduction program in 2007, and set the phase 1 standard for units to be 70 percent cleaner than older models that do not qualify. At the time, Vermont was the first state to take steps to encourage cleaner and more efficient outdoor wood heaters by adopting the initial cleaner standard of 0.44 pounds per million BTUs, noted George Crombie, secretary of the state Agency of Natural Resources.
'Vermonters have a long tradition of heating with wood, but as regulators we must ensure the cleanest burning units are available,' Crombie said recently.
Outdoor wood heaters, in particular, pose a health concern because they emit a significant amount of smoke and particle pollution, New England EPA officials said.
Meanwhile, exposure to final particle pollution along with the smoke from the wood burners is linked to a number of serious health problems, EPA officials said.
Smoke-related ailments include decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, irregular heartbeat, nonfatal heart attacks, and early death in people with heart and lung disease, officials said.
Children, people with heart or lung disease and older adults are the people who are most susceptible to the effects of particle pollution, EPA officials said.
The newer wood-boiler units have an appeal to consumers because they are not only safer but also more efficient, according to Phil Etter, environmental analyst for the Air Pollution Control Division in the Agency of Natural Resources.
'They will burn less wood and will burn safer because they won't burn as much creosote,' Etter said.
Even though the EPA emission reduction program is voluntary, it offers manufacturers the opportunity to have their units tested by an EPA-accredited third party, Etter said.
A number of other northern states besides Vermont and including Massachusetts and Maine, have proposed similar regulations, EPA officials said. Vermont officials now have a plan that would enact the phase 2 standards in the spring of 2010, Etter said.
The wood-boiler manufacturers that have told EPA they will make the cleaner units include Alternative Fuel Boilers (Econoburn), Central Boiler, Greenwood Technologies, Hardy Manufacturing, Heat Source, Northwest Manufacturing (WoodMaster) and Silver Woods Metals Inc. (Wood Doctor).
A number of those companies presented either chunk wood boilers or wood pellet boilers that met the phase 2 standard at a Vermont/EPA-sponsored showcase in Waterbury last week, Etter said.
Wood Doctor is an example of a company that makes a unit that meets the phase 2 standard and will likely be certified eventually for use in Vermont, Etter said. At this time, Vermont does not regulate the pellet boilers made by some wood-boiler companies at the showcase, he said.
So far, the wood boiler emission reduction program has cut fine particle emissions by 1,200 tons annually, EPA officials said.
Etter, the air pollution environmental analyst, said his sense is that outdoor wood boilers have been selling rather well for manufacturers generally

in the Atrium Lounge. The young pianists will play popular, jazz and classical selections. Tues., Nov. 18 People living with breathing problems including allergies, asthma, and chronic lung disease and their loved ones are invited to the first meeting of the Better Breathers Support Group at 1:30 p.m. at The Atrium. As part of the American Lung Association s national network of support groups, the mission of the Better Breathers Support Group is to help participants learn about lung disease and techniques to better manage it. Thurs., Dec

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