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Woodsmoke is a serious problem for people with asthma and reactive airway disease. The toxins and irritants it produces go way beyond CO2.
If it's possible to totally contain the emissions on the property of the user, there must be very few people who bother doing that. So banning wood burning is often the only viable option.
You are right.
Another factor to include in this is population-density.
How many people live within a mile radius, or ten mile radius and how many of them burn wood?
I have followed the issue a bit watching the outdoor wood-furnace industry develop. They are neat inventions, that can be loaded with fuel once a week and the home owner can operate them using a thermostat. Whole house heat with the ease of a thermostat. But they throw out so much wood-smoke pollution that many municipalities began making them illegal 10 years ago. First it was a few cities [high population-density urban areas], then a few states [jurisdictions that have no low density areas].
Two weeks ago I saw a group of vendors marketing outdoor wood-furnaces. I live in an area with such a low population-density that people can use these without effecting others.
That's too bad, because in CA with the little home heating that's needed, a little Vermont castings stove would be perfect to take the evening and morning chill out, and you would need very little cordwood to do it. There are stoves that burn very clean these days. I love wood heat, it is radiant and so quiet, unlike a furnace coming on and off.
I wonder if the issue is as much about flying embers and avoiding wildfires, as it is about air quality. I didn't know that was true about SF, but it may have been a reaction to the horrible Oakland conflagration of a few years ago.
I wonder if the issue is as much about flying embers and avoiding wildfires, as it is about air quality. I didn't know that was true about SF, but it may have been a reaction to the horrible Oakland conflagration of a few years ago.
Living near Ground Zero... there have been many changes since the firestorm... every home is inspected that falls within the urban/wildland interface and one of the things required is a spark arrestor along with the absence of fire ladder vegetation that allow quick path for fire to spread...
The Wood Fire Ban is controlled by the regional Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the smoke patrol is most active in winter... when it is cold and wet... extremely low fire danger.
We planted an apple orchard in 2006, this year we got our first apples. Only 3 trees produced any and it was a small harvest [1/2 bushel], we hope that as they come into full production we should be getting 160 to 300 bushels each year.
We got tired of tilling and replanting annual veggies in our raised beds, so this year we put in a lot of asparagus. Plant once, harvest for decades.
Also this spring we put in 90 high-bush blueberries, 100 cranberries, and 250 strawberries.
You mentioned 10 cords of firewood. How long should that last you? We heat with wood and we go through 3 1/2 cords/year.
Does rhubarb grow in in your area? It's pretty much plant and forget in the right environment.
I will leave the full-time workforce 692 days from today, on my 60th. That's when I can begin collecting my meager, $750/month pension from a 12-year stint with a local municipal government. A few months ago I was given (zero cost!) a 27 ft. sailboat that I have begun rehabbing to live on in Florida from October through March when I finally call it quits. I will have no medical insurance for five years, and no Social Security for two, but I no longer care: after two heart attacks and a quadruple bypass, I have decided I want to live before I die. When you reduce your existence to its very essentials, you will begin to understand how very little money a person can actually survive on. I should actually even be able to save a little each month, a feat I have never been able to accomplish during my 34 years in the workforce. In the words of HDT, "simplify, simplify." The late Steve Jobs told an interviewer once that when he looked at himself in the mirror each morning, he asked a simple question: If I knew that today would be the last day of my life, would I spend it doing what I had planned to do? He said if his answer was "no" for more than a few days running, he knew he needed to make a major course correction. That's pretty damned good advice. You really CAN retire on a shoestring, but YOU have to make it happen.
I will leave the full-time workforce 692 days from today, on my 60th. That's when I can begin collecting my meager, $750/month pension from a 12-year stint with a local municipal government. A few months ago I was given (zero cost!) a 27 ft. sailboat that I have begun rehabbing to live on in Florida from October through March when I finally call it quits. I will have no medical insurance for five years, and no Social Security for two, but I no longer care: after two heart attacks and a quadruple bypass, I have decided I want to live before I die. When you reduce your existence to its very essentials, you will begin to understand how very little money a person can actually survive on. I should actually even be able to save a little each month, a feat I have never been able to accomplish during my 34 years in the workforce. In the words of HDT, "simplify, simplify." The late Steve Jobs told an interviewer once that when he looked at himself in the mirror each morning, he asked a simple question: If I knew that today would be the last day of my life, would I spend it doing what I had planned to do? He said if his answer was "no" for more than a few days running, he knew he needed to make a major course correction. That's pretty damned good advice. You really CAN retire on a shoestring, but YOU have to make it happen.
EasternShoreMan, that was a wonderful post. I agree with you 100%. I believe you have acquired a great deal of wisdom after all your life experiences and the worrisome health issues you faced.
You and I are on the same page. I am not going to wait until I'm 66, I'm going to start taking my reduced social security at age 62 ... just 4 1/2 years from now. I cannot postpone the life I want to live any longer than that. The money ... well ... I'll be resourceful and survive. I've survived thus far.
BTW, earlier this summer I was reading James Michener's Chesapeake, and during the summer I took some thoroughly enjoyable day trips to your 'neck of the woods' ... living in Philly it was but a 2 hour or so drive. I especially loved Chestertown, but the Eastern Shore of MD is really beautiful. Much nicer than I even imagined! You are lucky to live in such a lovely place.
EasternShoreMan, that was a wonderful post. I agree with you 100%. I believe you have acquired a great deal of wisdom after all your life experiences and the worrisome health issues you faced.
You and I are on the same page. I am not going to wait until I'm 66, I'm going to start taking my reduced social security at age 62 ... just 4 1/2 years from now. I cannot postpone the life I want to live any longer than that. The money ... well ... I'll be resourceful and survive. I've survived thus far.
BTW, earlier this summer I was reading James Michener's Chesapeake, and during the summer I took some thoroughly enjoyable day trips to your 'neck of the woods' ... living in Philly it was but a 2 hour or so drive. I especially loved Chestertown, but the Eastern Shore of MD is really beautiful. Much nicer than I even imagined! You are lucky to live in such a lovely place.
I echo your comments to EasternShoreMan. I too have some health challenges and decided that although I could wait till 70 for maximum SS and build up more assets, I might be a gonner by then. I decided to chuck it (the job) that had sent my BP into the stratosphere and now I just teach a few classes and do consulting work, not big bucks but adequate. I live frugally and find I still have money in my wallet at the end of the week, surprise. Within two months my BP went down to 120/80, other issues including asthma greatly reduced. IMO, unmanageable stress (the unhealthy kind( causes eating and sleeping poorly which in turn cause illness. I'd rather live on bread and cheese (and wine) than continue to kill myself at 60 hours a week for 35 hours pay. No pension, either. I dedicated my life.
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Retirement on a shoestring
