Keene Wood Stove Exchange Program Aims to Clear the Air

Communities that sit in low-lying valleys are most at risk for pollution from wood stoves.
Keene is a perfect example.
In the winter time if the air is cold and calm, pollution often gets trapped near the ground.
Keene resident and wood stove dealer Pablo Fleishman says the pollution is like a pall over the city.
15 1:52 I live north of town so I come into the city and you can see it…and Keene being the bowl that it is you can see the thick layer of bad air.
The pollution is called fine particulate matter, a residue that can come from vehicle combustion, construction, and burned fossil fuels or wood.
New Hampshire D-E-S Air Resource Director Bob Scott says data from an air quality monitor in Keene shows a distinct pollution pattern that can come only from wood smoke.
06 2:46 what we’re seeing is almost exactly as people get up and feed their wood stoves they go to work, they get back, they feed their wood stoves again, we’re seeing an exact pattern of heating of residences.”
The news took the city of Keene completely by surprise.
Keene Planning Director Rhett Lamb says if the city can’t lower emissions, the EPA could place stricter requirements on business and industry...and it could hurt Keene’s economy.
13 2:47 our interest is if it’s not the industry that’s creating the problem but it’s locally burned wood in each individual’s home, we ought to focus our answer there, and keep ourselves under that threshold so that extra rules and requirements don’t apply.
City officials are setting up a woodstove exchange program.
It’s essentially a wood stove version of Cash for Clunkers.
Instead of getting rid of an old polluting car for a newer one with better gas mileage, residents can get rid of an old polluting wood stove for a cleaner newer one.
The incentive: a one thousand dollar rebate.
Money for the program – about 100-thousand dollars - came from a court settlement with American Electric Power involving air pollution.
15 5:11 “The city is being very generous. They are offering more than I thought they ever would to individuals for this”
That’s participating wood stove dealer Pablo Fleishman who owns Green Energy options in Keene.
Fleishman says a new wood stove can cost between eight-hundred and three-thousand dollars.
But in addition to Keene’s rebate, there’s also a federal tax credit for up to 15-hundred dollars.
15 5:“It’s possible for people to get a new EPA clean burning wood stove which will actually give them more heat, use less wood, and clean the air at the same time it is possible for someone to spend very little or no money in the long run.”
Wood stove dealers would help determine if Keene residents have an old wood stove that qualifies for the program.
It would have to be non-EPA certified, which is typically any stove bought before 1992.
Participating wood stove dealer Gary Goodemote is owner of Friends of the Sun in Brattleboro, Vermont.
He says the old stoves are really, really dirty.
16 2:42 the old stoves produce 40 to 50 grams per hour of particulate, new stoves probably produce between two and five grams an hour, and they can’t be much above that, so it’s a really a dramatic reduction, it’s over a 90-percent reduction.
Under the Keene change program the old stoves have to be destroyed and recycled.
Keene City Planner Rhett Lamb is hoping that 100 old wood stoves will be replaced during the three month program.
13 :57 what we don’t know yet is how much of the problem it will solve so the proof is in the pudding when the air monitoring system is activated this winter to know whether or not we’ll be seeing results we expect to see.
Officials say they expect the exchange program will begin by the first of November.
For NHPR news, I’m Amy Quinton.