LA stomps Summit’s footprint

Many people are surprised to learn that the residents of Los Angeles have the second smallest carbon footprint of anyone in the United States. (First place goes to the residents of Honolulu, presumably because surfing is a carbon-neutral activity.)

How is it possible that Los Angeles’ convertible-driving, evening gown-wearing, movie-making residents can have such small carbon emissions? The simple answer: They rarely have to heat their homes.

If heating your home is bad news for your carbon footprint, then the vast majority of us in Summit County are guilty as charged. We may not be the coldest part of the United States (as any Minnesotan will tell you) but we are a far cry from Los Angeles.

In this part of the Rocky Mountains, most homes require some form of heat for nine months of the year.

Assuming that you use propane, natural gas or electricity to heat your home, you are burning fossil fuels every time you turn the thermostat up.

Ten years ago, few of us had heard of the term global warming, and few of us cared that we were using fossil fuels to heat our home. As popular awareness of this issue has increased, many people are reconsidering the use of wood to heat their homes.

A quick look back at the history of home heating provides insight into why we have wavered between different methods.

For centuries, fire was the method of choice. In fact, radiant-floor heating started in ancient Rome, where fires were built beneath the floors of villas.

At the turn of the century, when the Industrial Revolution made it easy for humans to use fossil fuels to adapt their environment to their needs, we developed a strong dependence on oil. Fossil fuels were the easiest and least expensive way to heat a home for the next seven decades.

Then, during the oil crisis of the 1970s, many people in the United States had their first taste of expensive fossil fuels. As people thought twice about the price of oil, there was a huge switch to heating with wood.

Unfortunately, typical woodstoves from the 1970s would emit as much as 50 grams of particulate into the air every hour. The air-quality issues from that era still taint many people’s perspective on wood-burning. Luckily, the Environmental Protection Agency has set strict restrictions on wood-burning appliances, and their technology has made great strides.

The wood-heating appliances of today burn at much higher temperatures than those of 30 years ago. Smoke is created when wood reaches temperatures above the boiling point of water. If the temperature of the appliance reaches 1,000 degrees and the air is oxygenated, the smoke itself will burn, and a lot of the gases are removed before escaping into the atmosphere.

Wood appliances have not reached complete combustion, but they are getting much closer. A modern woodstove reaches temperatures of 1,100 degrees and must release less than 7.5 grams of particulate per hour to achieve EPA certification.

A recent debate in the Town of Silverthorne raised local awareness of masonry heaters, the most efficient wood burners of them all. I think Silverthorne made an eco-friendly choice by allowing masonry heaters to be used in town. Masonry heaters burn wood quickly and at temperatures up to 2,000 degrees, so they have very low emissions — 1 to 2 grams of particulates per hour.

The masonry heater in my home weighs 4,800 pounds and is made entirely of soapstone. I light two short fires a day during the coldest months of winter and have plenty of heat for my 1,900 square foot house. I never even use my radiant-floor heat that is fueled by propane. It is a great feeling to have a warm, toasty home without using fossil fuels!

Masonry heaters are ideal for use in new construction because the structural support needs to be thought out in advance. Adding a masonry heater into an existing home isn’t out of the question, but creating sufficient support for a three-ton appliance could be challenging.

As I look around the county and see the growing amount of beetle kill, I can at least see a bright side: plenty of renewable heat for years to come.

Is it possible that 30 years from now we will look back at using fossil fuels to heat our homes in the same way we view the dirty wood stoves from the 70s? Perhaps it is time to reconsider how we heat our homes: using non-renewable fossil fuels (which are known culprits in global warming) or burning renewable, local wood (and burning as clean as we can).

Or we can always move to Los Angeles.

Eartha Steward is written by Carly Wier, Jennifer Santry, Heather Dodd Christie and Susie Nothnagel, consultants on all things eco and chic at the High Country Conservation Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to waste reduction and resource conservation in our mountain community. Eartha believes that you can walk gently on our planet, even if you’re wearing stylish shoes.

Submit questions to Eartha at eartha@highcountryconservation.org or to High Country Conservation Center, P.O. Box 4506, Frisco, CO 80443.