Wood-burning stoves on way out
Bylaw that takes effect at end of 2020 will see ban on existing appliances
It may be hard to imagine now, in this week’s recordbreaking heat, but in a few short months, about 85,000 householders across the island will begin lighting woodburning stoves and fireplaces for warmth and atmosphere.
But wood burning is a key contributor to poor air quality, and Montreal had 49 bad air quality days last year, including 15 smog days. Poor air quality and smog are big problems in summer and winter, causing countless asthma attacks, hospital admissions, and premature deaths.
In 2009, the city of Montreal passed a bylaw imposing fines on the owner of any new building that contained a wood-burning stove or fireplace, except for certified clean-burning wood pellet stoves.
Incentives were offered to encourage home builders to install appliances that meet EPA or CSA standards for efficiency instead.
This move was applauded at the time by environmental groups and health experts, but they also called on the city to phase out existing stoves and fireplaces that were chugging out great quantities of fine particulate matter every fall and winter.
Fine particulate matter is a key component of smog, which can penetrate deep into the lungs causing and aggravating respiratory illnesses for many. Health Canada estimates the number of premature deaths each year at 1,540 on the island of Montreal because of air pollution, including 900 associated with exposure to fine particulate matter.
Last month, while the media was occupied with the various political scandals plaguing Montreal and Laval, Montreal city council quietly passed an important follow-up to this bylaw that will force all owners of traditional wood-burning stoves or fireplaces to condemn them or replace them with more efficient gas-burning or pellet-burning models by December 2020.
The council also voted to recommend a similar bylaw to the Agglomeration Council, so that the ban on wood stoves eventually will be island-wide.
City councillor Alan De- Sousa, who was on the executive committee when the first bylaw on wood stoves was introduced, said it was only a matter of time before existing stoves and fireplaces would be targeted and outlawed.
“First we had to build support for it politically because, at first, people didn’t know about the health impacts that these fine particles have, especially on those with respiratory diseases,” he said.
He could not give details on how the city will enforce the new bylaw, which simply says that the owner of a heating appliance that burns solids, except for wood pellets, must, before Dec. 31, 2020, render the appliance inoperable.