E – 1571 Strategies for Reducing Residential Wood Smoke

This online engineering PDH course describes strategies to help state and local air officials reduce fine particle pollution that is attributed to residential wood smoke. Because wood stoves, hydronic heaters, and similar appliances can be used around the clock in residential areas, they can cause significant and varying health and quality of life issues. For example, fireplaces may represent as much as 75% of the pollution from wood-burning devices on bad air quality days in the San Francisco Bay area. This course also provides education and outreach tools, information on regulatory approaches to reduce wood smoke, as well as information about voluntary programs that communities around the country have used to replace old, inefficient wood stoves, hydronic heaters, and fireplaces. It includes EPA federal actions to help communities address residential wood smoke throughout the United States. In addition, this course includes possible approaches for funding replacement programs, methods for calculating emission reductions, and the basic components of a wood smoke reduction plan for fine particles in areas where wood smoke is of concern.

This course is based on the Environmental Protection Agency document, “Strategies for Reducing Residential Wood Smoke,” Publication No. EPA-456/B-13-001, revised March, 2013.