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Residential wood combustion (RWC) is a significant source of gaseous and particulate emissions causing adverse health and environmental effects. Several factors affect emissions, but the effects of the fuel wood species on emissions are currently not well understood. In this study, the Nordic wood species (named BirchA, BirchB, Spruce, SpruceDry, Pine and Alder) were combusted in a modern stove, and the emissions were studied. The lowest emissions were obtained from the combustion of BirchA and the highest from Spruce and Alder. The fine particle mass (PM2.5) was mainly composed of elemental carbon (50–70% of PM2.5), which is typical in modern appliances. The lowest PAH concentrations were measured from BirchA (total PAH 107 µg/m3) and Pine (250 µg/m3). In the ignition batch, the PAH concentration was about 4-fold (416 µg/m3). The PAHs did not correlate with other organic compounds, and thus, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or organic carbon (OC) concentrations cannot be used as an indicator of PAH emissions. Two birch species from different origins with a similar chemical composition but different density produced partially different emission profiles. This study indicates that emission differences may be due more to the physical properties of the wood and the combustion conditions than to the wood species themselves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential wood combustion (RWC) is a significant source of gaseous and particulate emissions causing adverse health and environmental effects. Several factors affect emissions, but the effects of the fuel wood species on emissions are currently not well understood. In this study, the Nordic wood species (named BirchA, BirchB, Spruce, SpruceDry, Pine and Alder) were combusted in a modern stove, and the emissions were studied. The lowest emissions were obtained from the combustion of BirchA and the highest from Spruce and Alder. The fine particle mass (PM2.5) was mainly composed of elemental carbon (50–70% of PM2.5), which is typical in modern appliances. The lowest PAH concentrations were measured from BirchA (total PAH 107 µg/m3) and Pine (250 µg/m3). In the ignition batch, the PAH concentration was about 4-fold (416 µg/m3). The PAHs did not correlate with other organic compounds, and thus, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) or organic carbon (OC) concentrations cannot be used as an indicator of PAH emissions. Two birch species from different origins with a similar chemical composition but different density produced partially different emission profiles. This study indicates that emission differences may be due more to the physical properties of the wood and the combustion conditions than to the wood species themselves.

Emissions from wood burning for heating in secondary homes or cabins is an important part in the development of high-resolution emissions in specific areas. Norway is used as case study as 20% of the national wood consumption for heating occurs in cabins. Our study first shows a method to estimate emissions from cabins based on traffic data to derive cabin occupancy, which combined with heating need allows for the spatial and temporal distribution of emissions. The combination of residential (RWC) and cabin wood combustion (CWC) emissions shows large spatial and temporal differences, and a temporally "cabin population" can in areas be orders of magnitude larger than the registered population. While RWC emissions have been steadily reduced, CWC have kept relatively constant or even increased, which results in an increase in the cabin share to total heating emissions up to 25–35%. When comparing with regional emission inventories, our study shows that the gradient between rural and urban areas is not well-represented in regional inventories, which resembles a population-based distribution and does not allocate emissions in cabin municipalities. CWC emissions may become an increasing environmental concern as higher densification trends in mountain areas are observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work aims at understanding whether a citizen science-based monitoring system could be adequate to detect the effects, in terms of air quality, of solid and liquid fuel combustion for household heating. Citizen science is known to be able to improve the coverage and resolution of measurements at a very low cost. On the other hand, it also has severe limitations. Since low-cost sensors are to be used, measurements are problematic in terms of precision and accuracy. In order to test these aspects, we developed a system named COCAL that supports all the phases of air quality monitoring, from data acquisition, georeferencing, transmission, and processing up to web mapping. In this work, we focus on particulate matter. To address the limitations of the citizen science approach, we carefully tested all the parts of the system and, in particular, the performances of the low-cost sensors. We highlighted that their precision is acceptable, while their accuracy is insufficient. Measurements taken within such a paradigm cannot be used, therefore, as reference values. They can be used, instead, as relative values, in order to identify and to map trends, anomalies and hotspots. We used COCAL extensively in the city of Trieste and were able to identify different behaviors in different areas of the city. In the city center, PM values increase constantly during the day. In the rural suburbs of the city, we observed that PM values are low during the day but increase very rapidly after 5 p.m. It is important to note that, in the city center, household heating is based almost completely on natural gas. In the rural areas, household heating is generally based on wood burning stoves or liquid and solid fuel. A possible explanation of the different behavior between the two areas can then be related to commuters living in the rural areas but working in the city center. When they return home in the evening, they switch on the heating systems triggering the release of large quantities of particulate matter. We were able to map peaks of particulate matter values and highlight that they are initially located within the village centers to later propagate to the areas around them. The possibility of mapping air quality with the coverage and resolution we were able to obtain within a citizen science approach is very encouraging. This can be very helpful in understanding the impact that liquid and solid fuel combustion can have on the environment and human health. In addition, we think that this opportunity can be very important considering the current geopolitical situation where a (hopefully only temporary) shift toward pollutant fuels is expected in the near future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential wood combustion is the dominant source of particulate matter PM2.5 in the Republic of Croatia. Although the wood biomass is considered a green, sustainable energy source, at the same time the inhalation of PM2.5 particles from residential wood combustion, is associated with harmful effects on human health. The paper analyzes the variability of PM2.5 emission regarding three factors, which are closely related to climate policy and climate change. The first factor is related to the introduction of new, more environmentally friendly wood biomass combustion technologies. The second factor relates to the consumption of wood biomass depending on climate variability. The third factor refers to the implementation of measures for energy renovation of family houses. The aim of this paper is to distinguish the contribution of individual factors, both on the historical PM2.5 emissions from residential wood combustion, and on the emission projections up to the year 2050. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emissions from wood burning for heating in secondary homes or cabins is an important part in the development of high-resolution emissions in specific areas. Norway is used as case study as 20% of the national wood consumption for heating occurs in cabins. Our study first shows a method to estimate emissions from cabins based on traffic data to derive cabin occupancy, which combined with heating need allows for the spatial and temporal distribution of emissions. The combination of residential (RWC) and cabin wood combustion (CWC) emissions shows large spatial and temporal differences, and a temporally “cabin population” can in areas be orders of magnitude larger than the registered population. While RWC emissions have been steadily reduced, CWC have kept relatively constant or even increased, which results in an increase in the cabin share to total heating emissions up to 25–35%. When comparing with regional emission inventories, our study shows that the gradient between rural and urban areas is not well-represented in regional inventories, which resembles a population-based distribution and does not allocate emissions in cabin municipalities. CWC emissions may become an increasing environmental concern as higher densification trends in mountain areas are observed.

Residential heating with solid fuels is one of the major drivers for poor air quality in Central and Eastern Europe, and coal is still one of the major fuels in countries, such as Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary. In this work, emissions from a single-room heater fueled with brown coal briquettes (BCBs) and spruce logs (SLs) were analyzed for signatures of inorganic as well as semivolatile aromatic and low-volatile organic constituents. High variations in organic carbon (OC) emissions of BCB emissions, ranging from 5 to 22 mg MJ -1 , were associated to variations in carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, ranging from 900 to 1900 mg MJ -1 . Residential BCB combustion turned out to be an equally important source of levoglucosan, an established biomass burning marker, as spruce logwood combustion, but showed distinct higher ratios to manosan and galactosan. Signatures of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons emitted by BCB combustion exhibited defunctionalization and desubstitution with increasing combustion quality. Lastly, the concept of island and archipelago structural motifs adapted from petroleomics is used to describe the fraction low-volatile organic compounds in particulate emissions, where a transition from archipelago to island motifs in relation with decreasing CO emissions was observed in BCB emissions, while emissions from SL combustion exhibited the island motif.

Residential wood combustion (RWC) is a major source of air pollutants in the Nordic and many other countries. The emissions of the pollutants have been estimated with inventories on several scopes, e.g. local and national. An important aspect of the inventories is the spatial distribution of the emissions, as it has an effect on health impact assessments. In this study, we present a novel residential wood combustion emission inventory for the Nordic countries based on national inventories and new gridding of the emissions. We compare the emissions of the Nordic inventory, and especially their spatial distribution, to local assessments and European level TNO-newRWC-inventory to assess the spatial proxies used. Common proxies used in the national inventories in the Nordic countries were building data on locations and primary heating methods and questionnaire-based wood use estimates for appliances or primary heating methods. Chimney sweeper register data was identified as good proxy data, but such data may not be available in an applicable format. Comparisons of national inventories to local assessments showed the possibility to achieve similar spatial distributions through nation-wide methods as local ones. However, this won't guarantee that the emissions are similar. Comparison to the TNO-newRWC-inventory revealed the importance of how differences between urban and rural residential wood combustion are handled. The comparison also highlighted the importance of local characteristics of residential wood combustion in the spatial distribution of emissions. PM 2.5 emissions from residential wood combustion in the Nordic countries in 2014 per 1 km × 1 km cell. [Display omitted] • New high-resolution emission inventory for Nordic residential wood combustion. • Country level methods can produce similar spatial distributions as local level. • Difference between urban and rural RWC is important for the spatial distribution. • National characteristics are essential for spatial representation of RWC emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]