When people think about residential wood burning, images of cozy fireplaces or traditional wood stoves often come to mind. However, this seemingly benign activity has a darker side—its contribution to black carbon emissions, which are a significant driver of global warming. In this post, we'll delve into how residential wood burning contributes to black carbon emissions, its impact on the climate, and what can be done to reduce this hidden threat.
What is Black Carbon?
Black carbon is a type of particulate matter produced through the incomplete combustion of organic materials, such as wood. These tiny particles of soot are not only a significant air pollutant but also a potent climate forcer. When released into the atmosphere, black carbon absorbs sunlight, creating a warming effect that can exacerbate global warming, especially in regions where it settles on snow and ice.
The Role of Residential Wood Burning in Black Carbon Emissions
Residential wood burning is a major source of black carbon emissions, particularly in colder regions where wood is used as a primary heating source. In many rural and suburban areas, wood-burning stoves and fireplaces are popular for heating homes, especially during the winter months. While these methods may be seen as cost-effective or traditional, they come with significant environmental costs.
Incomplete combustion of wood in these stoves and fireplaces leads to the release of black carbon, along with other pollutants like carbon monoxide and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Older, less efficient stoves and open fireplaces are particularly problematic, as they burn wood at lower temperatures, leading to higher emissions of black carbon.
Climate Impact of Black Carbon from Wood Burning
Black carbon's impact on climate is particularly concerning because it is a short-lived climate pollutant with a much higher global warming potential than carbon dioxide over short timeframes. When black carbon is emitted into the atmosphere, it can absorb a significant amount of solar radiation, heating the surrounding air and contributing to atmospheric warming.
Moreover, when black carbon particles settle on snow and ice, they reduce the surface's reflectivity (albedo). This causes the snow and ice to absorb more heat, accelerating melting. This effect is especially harmful in polar and mountainous regions, where it can contribute to the loss of glaciers and sea ice, further amplifying global warming.
Calculation of Black carbon CO2-equivalent
Carbon dioxide equivalent is a metric that expresses the impact of different greenhouse gases in terms of the amount of CO₂ that would have the same global warming effect. For example methane has an official factor of 84 to 87 over a 20-year period, but black carbon does not have an official value.
Climate and Clean Air Coalition has an estimate of Black carbon warming impact 460-1,500 times stronger than CO2 per unit of mass. Let’s do a short calculation what this means for example in Europe:
We estimate that there are 100 million wood burning stoves in Europe. Let’s estimate that average cold season across Europe lasts for 100 days, which of course varies a lot between southern and northern Europe, but let’s use a nice round number for this calculation. A typical wood burning routine emits roughly 10 grams of PM (Suhonen et al, 2021) Now, these multiplied we get the yearly total black carbon emission from residential wood burning in Europe: 100 000 tons of black carbon. Using the GWP value from CCAC, a factor of 1000, we can calculate the carbon dioxide equivalent of black carbon emissions in Europe: 100 million tons of CO2e.
CO2e reduction potential of NOETON Emission Catcher in Europe
If all the fireplaces in Europe were equipped with the NOETON Emission Catcher, achieving a 95% reduction in black carbon emissions, the reduction in CO2e emissions would be 95 million tons!
The European Union's reduction target for 2030 is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% compared to 1990 levels. Since 1990 emissions were approximately 4.2 billion tons of CO2e, this means the 2030 target is to reduce emissions to about 1.89 billion tons of CO2e.
5% of the European Union’s 2030 reduction target could be achieved by installing NOETON emission catcher to stoves. This solution is ready, the impact would be fast because of the short lifetime of black carbon emissions, and it is affordable compared to other CO2 reduction actions.
