Clean Air, Better Health - Informed Communities

Creating Informed Communities

Q Would you buy a new product:

· without a safe standard to protect our health,

· that pollutes an area 350 x 350 x 10 metres to the World Health Organisation annual limit in less than an hour

· emits toxic particles able to penetrate the deepest recesses of our lungs, where they enter the bloodstream and cause harm throughout the body, including increased risk of some cancers

· increases the risk of heart and lung diseases, strokes, dementia, asthma attacks

· increases the risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes, causes changes in cognitive abilities and poorer learning outcomes in children

· if installed in only one home per hectare, adds 7% to the risk that a child under 3 will need hospital emergency treatment for all causes except accidental injury

· if used for more than 30 days per year, increases in the risk of women developing lung cancer by 68% and also increases the risk of breast cancer

· in toxicity testing, the particles were found to cause 12 to 30 times as many tumours in mice and mutations in bacteria as the same amount of cigarette smoke

· emits twice as much CO2 in UK homes as using a gas boiler, reduces the number of CO2-reducing trees in the world and including methane, carbon monoxide and black carbon emissions causes more global warming than heating than heating 23 similar Sydney homes with gas central heating or a reverse cycle aircon

and install it in your home if there are safe, affordable, environmentally-friendly alternatives?

Most likely, that the vast majority of people would say no, implying that most people who buy wood heaters do not know all the above horrific statements are true.

Sadly, once thousands of dollars spent on a wood heater, people are likely to be much less receptive to information about the health impacts of their choice of heating.

The result, as shown in the picture below of Armidale (8 August 2021) is that the central area suffers from high pollution levels and indeed had 163 exceedances of World Health Organisation Air Quality Guidelines - see page 31 of Council's State of the Region Report.

Policies shouldn't be determined by incorrect and misleading information from profit-driven industries

New wood heaters almost as polluting as those installed 20-30 years ago

Real-life emissions of wood heaters installed in people's homes are the only important matter. The blue bars on the graph (left) show manufacturers' claims, based on the current wood heater test, which bears little or no relationship to real-life emissions.

The average of 6.5 g/kg equates to 6,500,000 micrograms. So burning just 1 kg (an hour's heat at the lowest burn rate) will pollute an area 360 x 360 x 10 metres to the World Health Organisation annual limit of 5 ug/m3.

Three quarters of heaters available in Australia have emissions ratings of 0.9 or worse). Their average of 7 g/kg is little different from the 9.4 g/kg average for heaters tested in Launceston nearly 20 years ago (2006/2007 and possibly purchased several years before that).

The wood heating industry knows that the current test doesn't reflect real-world emissions because it excludes the highly polluting start-up phase and the massively increased pollution if the heater is not operated perfectly (e.g. turning down the air control too soon after adding more wood).

Thanks to improved energy efficiency and insulation standards, energy-efficient reverse cycle systems are clean, convenient, cosy, pollution free, cause a lot less global warming and have lower running costs than buying firewood for a wood heater.

More PAH than motor vehicles, equivalent to 200,000 cigarettes per evening

Australia's National Pollutant Inventory shows that domestic solid fuel heating, almost entirely wood burning, emits 500 tonnes of PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons). Despite only a small proportion of households using wood as main heating - less than less than 5% in Sydney - total emissions are far higher than all Australia's cars, trucks and other vehicles.
Burning 10 kg of Australian hardwood in an enclosed wood heater results in the emission of the BaP-equivalent of the PAH in the smoke from over 200,000 cigarettes.

Online surveys could test the effectiveness of educational materials to create an informed community

Online surveys could also test the efficacy of education materials on the health impacts of wood heater pollution, e.g. whether residents applying to install new wood heaters were prepared to consider alternatives after being informed about the true health impacts, and whether, once people who don't use wood heaters have been informed about and understand the truth health impacts of wood heater pollution, they would support policies not to allow new wood heaters in urban areas and gradually phase out existing wood heaters.

Armidale Regional Council's 2024-25 Operational Plan includes the action: "2) Education on New Wood Heaters
Provide an online survey on the health and climate impacts of wood heater pollution as part of the application process for residents wishing to install new wood heaters."

Armidale Regional Council's Local Strategic Planning Statement explains that: "At present, our air quality is one of the worst in Australia during winter months. This is primarily due to our woodfire heater use and topography of our city. As our community grows, and as innovation and technology advance, we must work together as a community to address this issue" (p21).

Council's commitment to an online survey as part of the application process for installing new heaters represents a valuable opportunity to inform residents (who perhaps learned about wood heating from retail salespeople) and help them start to understand the health impacts of using wood heaters, on their families and friends as well as the costs and convenience of alternative heating.

It also represents a valuable tool to test the efficacy of messages on those who want to install new wood heaters and determine the extent to which informed people who know and understand the health impacts of wood heating would choose alternative heating. An effective online survey that discouraged residents from installing new wood heaters could be used by all Australian councils to reduce the number of new wood heaters and therefore reduce pollution levels and the health impact of PM2.5 pollution. The results could also be used to demonstrate to local, state and federal governments that informed communities prefer clean air to wood heaters and therefore demonstrate the support for gradually phasing out wood heaters and thereby avoid a large proportion of the 728 premature deaths per year attributed to wood heater pollution.

A randomised design could be used, with half the participants asked the questions before seeing the educational material and the other half afterwards.

After being informed about the health impacts, respondents could also be asked whether they would support subsidies for cleaner heating, or support a council policy to allow people to continue using the wood heaters in their houses, but requiring existing wood heaters to be removed when houses are sold. An appropriate survey could be developed for a relatively modest cost and applied to all residents in the Armidale Regional Council area submitting applications to install new wood heaters, and to respondents who expressed interest in the Asthma Australia grant to replace their wood heater.

It could also be mailed out with rates notices to inform the entire community and influence future policies on wood heating throughout Australia and perhaps even other countries.

Some examples of readily available education material.

The NSW EPA's message that Wood Smoke Isn't Good Smoke, If you can smell it, you're already breathing it

The ACT Environment Commissioners' Video: Health impacts of wood heaters

Mums for Lungs Woodsmoke Posters

Global Action Plan: hidden cost of wood heat

Armidale Regional Council's Local Strategic Planning Statement (LSPS) explains that: "At present, our air quality is one of the worst in Australia during winter months. This is primarily due to our woodfire heater use and topography of our city. As our community grows, and as innovation and technology advance, we must work together as a community to address this issue" (p21).

Council's suggested strategies in the LSPS go some way towards addressing the pollution problem, but much more is needed to reduce the health risks to residents from heart and lung diseases, strokes, dementia, asthma, adverse pregnancy outcomes, changes in cognitive abilities and poorer learning outcomes in children. Including the damage to our health, wood is most expensive form of heating.

There are many false and misleading claims from the profit-driven wood heating industry. For example, the industry falsely claims that new wood heaters are clean, despite the fact that new wood heaters are almost as polluting as the ones installed 20 years ago. Council's new planning policies will still to allow wood heaters in new houses on blocks of 4,001 square metres; this could result in 2.5 homes with wood heaters per hectare and a 17.5% increased risk a child under 3 will need hospital emergency treatment for all conditions except accidental injury. This should not be considered acceptable.

Launceston's successful woodsmoke program reduced deaths in winter from respiratory disease by 28% and cardiovascular disease by 20%. If Armidale wants similar benefits, we should not allow new wood heaters that are almost as polluting as the ones installed 20 years ago on blocks less than 2 hectares.

Armidale Regional Council's Clean Air Strategies, p71:
C1.1 Mitigate the impacts of wood heaters in Armidale during the winter months

• Seek funding for and undertake a community awareness program on the impacts of wood heaters on air quality

• Undertake studies as required into the biodiversity and environmental impacts of wood collection within the LGA

• Amend the DCP to prohibit new dwellings from installing wood heaters where they are located on lots of 4000m2 or less

• Undertake a trial program to install filtration devices to understand their effectiveness in reducing woodsmoke pollution generated by existing fireplaces

• Offer an incentive package to retrofit existing wood heaters with air conditioning units within Armidale

• Advocate for the inclusion of a PM2.5 limit in the Australian Standard for fuel combustion heaters (AS/NZS 4013:2014)

• Advocate the State Government to establish a financial assistance program to support and incentivise the installation of filtration devices or replacement of wood heaters with alternative heating devices that do not burn solid fuels

• Undertake investigation into potential options to phase-out wood heaters within Armidale

Opposition by the profit-driven wood heating industry is still harming our health

Initiatives to develop a test for wood heaters that reflects real-life emissions were opposed by the wood heating industry, presumably because of added costs. Despite having no safe standard for wood heaters, for decades, the industry tried to maximize profits by convincing people that new wood heaters are clean and environmentally friendly. Yet when all emissions from the average wood heater are counted, the average wood heater causes a lot more global warming that heating several similar homes with reverse cycle systems.

Health problems from breathing woodsmoke (see Q1 below) include adverse pregnancy outcomes, changes in cognitive abilities, poorer learning outcomes in children, increased risk of asthma attacks, heart and lung diseases, strokes and dementia.

Council's current proposals aim to stop the problem from getting worse. New homes have affordable, clean heating options thanks to current insulation and energy-efficiency standards. The last thing they (or their neighbours) need is a polluting wood heater for which the current standard is insufficient to protect our health. The wood heating industry's claim "The Armidale council wants to remove your wood heater" is just as untrue as the claim that "wood is one of the cleanest domestic heating options available”. No heaters will ever need to be removed if the proposed trial of filtration devices successfully reduces emissions by at least 95% over the life of the heater. But instead of applauding this initiative, the wood heating industry is trying to stir up opposition and spreading fear and misinformation. Perhaps they don't even want filtration devices to clean up the harmful, polluting monstrosities they have sold, simply continue to sell more of them!

Creating informed communities helps tackle this problem

Residents need to fight back with the truth - that new wood heaters are 8 times worse than the manufacturers' claims and are almost as polluting as those installed 20-30 years ago, that wood heating causes an estimated 14 premature deaths in Armidale every year, corresponding to 210 years of life lost, with estimated cost exceeding $10,000 per wood heater per year. Wood smoke extracts were found to cause 12 to 30 times as many tumours in mice and mutations in bacteria as the same amount of cigarette smoke. We don't need any more wood heaters to add to Armidale's pollution!

Only informed communities can make informed decisions, so the proposed community awareness program is an important first step. When people understand the true health impacts of wood heater pollution, very few will want wood heating. Houses that comply with current insulation and energy-efficiency standards already have clean, convenient, cosy pollution-free alternatives, such as energy-efficient reverse cycle systems that cause a lot less global warming and have lower running costs than a wood heater. This testimonial from a former wood heater user shows that many Armidale residents will save money and enjoying improved quality of life from switching to solar and reverse cycle.

Why Armidale needs Clean Air

Cleaner air will make Armidale a nicer place to live and work and attract visitors as well as new residents. Consider thanking council for committing to clean up Armidale's air to protect residents' health.
Many residents are concerns about wood heater pollution in Armidale. Some try and avoid it, e.g. by checking the PurpleAir monitors and not going to town when the air is unhealthy? Are you bothered by the smoke from nearby houses? If so, have you complained, and are you satisfied with the result?
Cleaner air will also reduce health costs and extend life expectancy by reducing the number of heart attacks, strokes, lung diseases and cancers. Residents will look forward to more years living in Armidale, increasing total population and economic activity.
Research published in the Medical Journal of Australia suggests that the reduction in life expectancy in Armidale equates to about 210 lost years of life every year with estimated cost of $10,930 per heater per year.
A UNE study by Lutfa Khan, Kevin Parton and Howard Doran, published in 2007 reported that winter woodsmoke causes 8.8 additional visits per day to GPs in Armidale for respiratory complaints, i.e about 750 additional visits per year. The estimated cost was $189.35 per visit, i.e. about $142,000 per year.[1] This study did not consider more serious ailments, such as hospital admissions, although this will undoubtedly add to the cost.
There is an urgent need for an education program that starts immediately, although funds will be needed to make it more effective. Wood heater owners often have no idea that wood heater pollution is more harmful than the same amount of cigarette smoke. Only informed communities can make informed decisions.
The proposal to allow wood heaters in new houses on blocks of 4,001 square metres is of great concern. Allowing 2.5 homes with wood heaters per hectare would result in a 17.5% increased risk a child under 3 will need hospital emergency treatment for all conditions except accidental injury. Equally, importantly, measured emissions from the average brand of new heater of 6.47 g/kg are enough to pollute and area of 350 x 350 x metres to a height of 10 metres to the World Health Organisation annual limit of 5 ug/m3 within an hour. That is just one of multiple increased risks, including adverse pregnancy outcomes, changes in cognitive abilities, poorer learning outcomes in children, increased increased risk of asthma attacks, heart and lung diseases, strokes and dementia. Does council consider this level of pollution acceptable?
Council should increase the minimum block size for installing new heaters to at least 2 hectares.
When applications are received to install new wood heaters, consent should be required from all nearby residents whose health could be affected. To ensure informed consents, appropriate information should be provided about the health impacts, including the increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes and the 7% increased risk for every additional wood heater per hectare that a child under 3 will need hospital emergency treatment for all causes except accidental injury
Council should also provide effective ways of helping neighbours whose health of lifestyle is impacted by other people's wood heater pollution, e.g. if the problem remains after providing appropriate information on how to operate heaters correctly, and the NSW EPA's advice that "If you can see or smell smoke from your wood heater then you are causing a problem for yourself, your family and your neighbours" accept video evidence of excessive smoke pollution.
The 2020 Asthma Australia Survey found that people exposed to woodfire heaters said they are largely unable to protect themselves from the smoke. Council should therefore advocate for more effective ways to measure excessive pollution from incorrectly operated wood heaters, e.g. providing PurpleAir monitors and accepting that video evidence of visible smoke emissions combined with increased pollution 10 or more metres away from the source implies that the smoke plume extends at least 10 metres.
Council should advocate for polluter-pays taxes, e.g. an annual permit for using a wood heater to cover the cost to council of assisting residents impacted by other people's wood heater pollution, purchasing PurpleAir or other monitors for residents to measure the impact of polluting neighbours, providing subsidies for HEPA filtration to mitigate the impact of current levels of pollution and providing subsidies to replace wood heaters with clean, efficient, climate-friendly heating.
Council should advocate for powers to remove existing heaters when houses are sold, if they do not satisfy a standard that is sufficient to protect health.

Improved quality of life & lower costs from switching to solar + AC

Last year, I transitioned from using a wood fire as my primary heating with some gas and electric heating when really cold, to reverse cycle A/C. I also installed solar. Previously, we spent between $1200 and $1800 on fire wood per winter. Last winter we spent $0 on fire wood and our power bill was approx. 52% less. It was also the most comfortable winter I've had in Armidale for a long time and not having the mess, wood carting/stacking and constant tending to the fire was bliss. A few things to note. My house is an old double brick and well insulated house. During winter the AC ran 24/7. I configured it so that it heated the house up during the day (using the solar) and ran it less during the night (just to maintain temp). Put in effort to seal/stop drafts, good curtins, blinds etc. Added bonus, this summer has been very pleasant! All in all, a huge success, huge reduction in running costs and a lot less effort.

Finally, the really good news. Both the Solar and the AC were installed by local businesses. I think this is critically important. The solar was installed by Davies & Sons Electrical. Nick and his team did a great job at a great price. The AC was installed by Roberts Air Conditioning & Refrigeration. Jyr and his team did an excellent job and I'm very pleased with the system they installed. So, putting aside endless arguments about power, renewables, climate change etc, what I can say is that switching to solar and AC has improved my quality of life, has reduced my running costs to the point that the investment in both the solar and AC will definitely be recouped in savings long before either will need to be replaced and as a side effect, I'm no longer contributing to Armidale's smoke haze!
Source: post to a private FB group with 13.6k members (All new Armidale community noticeboard)

Policies shouldn't be determined by incorrect and misleading information from profit-driven industries

New wood heaters are almost as polluting as those installed 20-30 years ago

Real-life emissions of wood heaters installed in people's homes are the only important matter. The average of 7 g/kg for heaters rated 0.9 to 1.2 g/kg (3/4 of heaters available in Australia have emissions ratings of 0.9 or worse) is little different from the 9.4 g/kg average for heaters tested in Launceston nearly 20 years ago (2006/2007 and possibly purchased several years before that).

The blue bars show the manufacturers' claims, based on the current wood heater test, which bears little or no relationship to real-life emissions. Indeed, the average of 6.5 g/kg equates to 6,500,000 micrograms. So burning just 1 kg (an hour's heat at the lowest burn rate) will pollute an area 360 x 360 x 10 metres to the World Health Organisation annual limit of 5 ug/m3.

Screenshot, video: Health impacts of wood heaters, ACT Environment Commissioner (full details below)

Council is proposing a trial program to install filtration devices. If successful, there would be no need to remove any existing wood heaters. Despite this, the wood heating industry is using completely untrue, highly emotive statements such as "The Armidale council wants to remove your wood heater" as well as blatantly false claims that "wood is one of the cleanest domestic heating options available” to stir up opposition to the proposal not to allow current wood heater models (for which the current standard is insufficient to protect our health) in new houses on blocks of 4,000 square metres or less.

Until the wood heating industry puts people before profits and supports the development of a test designed to measure real-life emissions, council policies should not be influenced by the false and misleading claims of a profit-driven industry.

Why the current Australian Standard is insufficient to protect health

The current test for Australian wood heaters bears little or no relationship to emissions of the same heater after installation in people's homes. Attempts to develop a new test that better reflects real-life emissions failed because of opposition by the wood heating industry. Consequently, real-life emissions average 8 times worse than the Australian Standards test. New heaters are therefore little better than those of heaters installed 20 years ago.

Consequently, "The best way to reduce pollution from wood heaters is to replace them with cleaner forms of heating, such as reverse cycle air conditioning" advises the Centre for Air Pollution and Health Factsheet 'Wood heater smoke is not safe'

Attempts by the Australian Standards Committee in 2007 to develop a new test to better reflect real-life emissions were abandoned because of opposition by the wood heating industry (paragraph 6.35, Senate Inquiry, Impacts on health of air quality in Australia, 2013). This hasn't prevented the industry from making blatantly untrue claims, e.g. that claiming that “wood is one of the cleanest domestic heating options available", or that the large amounts of global warming from the methane, black carbon, carbon monoxide and CO2 from burning wood won't increase the risk of catastrophic climate change!

Some relevant information for an education program to promote widespread understanding of the facts about wood smoke

Legislation against smoking at work was initially controversial, but now has almost universal support. People who are likely to want similar protection against wood smoke once they understand that burning 15 kg of wood in an enclosed wood heater – an evening’s heat – produces as many toxic PAH as in the smoke from a quarter of a million cigarettes, that real-life emissions of new heaters are little different from older models (see above), that health experts recommend not using wood heaters when alternatives are available, that wood smoke increases the risk of dementia, that in Tasmania hospital admissions for heart failure started to increase as soon as PM2.5 exceeded 4 µg/m3, a tiny fraction of the current Australian PM2.5 standard of 25 µg/m3, and that modern efficient heater-air-conditioners are more environmentally friendly than wood heating and have lower running costs than buying firewood).

Examples of readily available education material.

The NSW EPA's message that Wood Smoke Isn't Good Smoke, If you can smell it, you're already breathing it

The ACT Environment Commissioners' Report and Video: Health impacts of wood heaters

Mums for Lungs Woodsmoke Posters

Global Action Plan: hidden cost of wood heat

Position paper ‘Reducing the health impacts of wood-heaters in Australia’, August 2021 by 11 experts from the Centre for Air pollution, energy and health Research (CAR, an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence); recommendations of CAR’s three Chief Investigators, Professor Guy Marks, Professor Fay Johnston and Professor Graeme Zosky, March 2022 in their report ‘Cleaner air for Australians’ (pages 8-10) and the factsheet on wood heater pollution, September 2022.

A really effective woodsmoke reduction campaign in Launceston included several short videos – see links below. About 2,000 households in Launceston took advantage of subsidies to convert to alternative heating and another 2,000 households removed installed alternative heating entirely at their own expense. The subsequent reduction in woodsmoke was estimated to have reduced deaths in winter from respiratory disease by 28% and cardiovascular disease by 20%. This campaign was the most successful wood smoke reduction campaign in Australia, and most likely the world. The links below (V1 to V1) are to short (30 sec) videos from the campaign.

V1: Isn't it time you gave up smoking? Wood smoke consists of millions of tiny particles small enough to be inhaled into the deepest parts of our lungs. And once they're in there, they stay there.

V2: Tune: Wood smoke gets in your eyes. Isn't it time you gave up smoking?

V3: Get the message - person trying to light wood heater is doused with a bucket of water

V4: Get the message - sleeping person wakes up with hands covered in soot and the decapitated top of a wood heater flue (take-off of the Godfather horse's head scene).

Stay informed about Clean Air Issues - Use this link to contact us or join the Australian Air Quality Group Email List - emails are limited to very important news or information (that happens perhaps 2 to 3 times a year) and will not be used for any other purpose. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse