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Showing posts from December, 2016

A visual representation of what hazardous wood burning actually looks like

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Just another day here on Gabriola Island and another example of the hyper local effects of wood burning on air quality. This particular chimney (connected to an EPA airtight wood stove) is almost solely responsible for these unacceptably high readings. Note the other readings on the island from our "swarm" of PurpleAir sensors to see the localization of the effect.

Learning how to identify industrial sources of pollution

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Here's a good example from our 8 PurpleAir sensors on Gabriola Island of industrial pollution affecting the entire region. We're guessing that this is pollution from the Harmac mill in Nanaimo given the shape of the curve, distribution and timing at different sensors with those located closer to the mill spiking first. There was a uniform increase in levels across all sensors between 7-8PM tonight. This rules out other sources like domestic wood burning although a more detail-oriented eye will see those spikes as well within individual patterns - it may also suggest the arrival of an inversion.

This is really what's behind wood stoves in North America

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The HPBA is the main lobby group for the wood stove industry, and a major driver behind wood stove exchange programs. Look at how they're marketing their 2017 Expo and tell us again why you want to be any part of this BC Lung. See http://hpbexpo.com