To the Editor,
Re: Harmac mill’s pollutant tops any wood smoke, Letters, Dec. 1.
I don’t understand the logic that says because something is worse, the other must be OK.
In our Departure Bay neighbourhood, the Harmac mill bothers us perhaps six times a year. It’s a terrible smell nonetheless.
Wood stoves, however, are a problem fall, winter and early spring. Of 22 neighbouring houses, eight have wood stoves including both my immediate neighbours.
Yes, I do have to keep all windows shut fall, winter and early spring. I also have to block off the roof top fresh air vent. It isn’t just smell you get, it is actual smoke.
That’s how much smoke one neighbour generates with an inefficient stove, poor quality fuel plus other garbage.
That means we have to remove any condensation from the house by using extractor fans. Fans that remove the warm air I have just paid to heat in the first place.
The province/city should upgrade standards so new installations can only be the most energy efficient presently available.
Along with a mandate that old stoves must be replaced within the next 10 years with the most energy efficient available at the time of replacement.
That way wood stove retailers would only stock/install what they could sell. At the moment, cheap, less efficient stoves are still available and the city is giving people grants to replace old with no set standard for new.
Where is the sense in that? The city has no standards and the province has standards that are 19 years out of date.
Flo Dolega
Nanaimo