| If you plan to move to a new home or to build a | | | | Area permit installation of only U S EPA certified |
| home, you may draw a line through a fireplace as | | | | wood-fired appliances in all new construction. Since |
| a necessity. Although people love the warmth, | | | | 1991, the Bay Area AQMD has issued advisories |
| comforting crackling sounds, aromas, and moving | | | | for a voluntary no-burn program on poor air |
| light a wood burning fire provides, fireplaces can | | | | quality nights, "Spare the Air Tonight." |
| emit polluted air into your home and into your | | | | But wait! Solutions exist so you can enjoy your |
| neighborhood. | | | | fire. To keep pollutants from entering your room |
| Most home shoppers request a fireplace. Home | | | | air, you can install a certified clean-burning fireplace |
| buyers desire a hearth, which symbolizes home. | | | | insert and a glass screen. Buy a carbon monoxide |
| Families gather around the fireplace during holiday | | | | monitor and an oxygen-depletion sensor to ensure |
| celebrations and quiet conversations. Book lovers | | | | safe air. The new fireplace systems keep |
| enjoy curling up next to a fire on a cool | | | | pollutants from leaving your chimney. |
| afternoon. Many new homes feature fireplaces in | | | | Other considerations for you to ponder include the |
| the main bedroom. After all, what's more | | | | source of heating for your home. What happens |
| romantic than a fire? | | | | when natural gas demand outpaces production? |
| According to the U.S. Department of Energy, | | | | Prices skyrocket. And if your heat comes from a |
| wood-burning fireplaces emit nitrogen oxides, | | | | coal-burning electrical plant, doesn't the burning coal |
| carbon monoxide, organic gases, and particulate | | | | produce toxins that pollute the air? |
| matter. These pollutants can cause serious health | | | | If you're building a new home, consider installing a |
| problems for children, pregnant women, and | | | | Pellet Stove, the most efficient and least polluting |
| people with respiratory problems. Like cigarette | | | | of the new stove designs. Pellet Stoves provide |
| smoke, some of these elements contain | | | | less than 1 gram per hour of particulate emissions. |
| cancer-causing properties. | | | | Most of these stoves s require electricity and |
| Some urban cities have considered banning | | | | burn compressed wood waste formed into pellets. |
| wood-burning fireplaces altogether to stem the | | | | Be kind to yourself and to the environment. |
| flow of pollutants in the smog-filled air. California | | | | Consider these environmental issues when you |
| cities and counties have enacted local ordinances | | | | light up your fire. |
| to limit the growing wood smoke problem. | | | | Copyright © Jeanette J. F isher. All rights |
| Mammoth Lakes, Squaw Valley, Cloverdale, | | | | reserved. |
| Fresno, and many cities and counties in the Bay | | | | |