Air Quality Education Week Slated

Agencies from three Pacific Northwest states, the federal government and others have developed a major renewable energy and air quality public awareness program for next week in the three-state region.

The “Burn Clean, Burn Smart” program is designed to provide free stovepipe thermometers to thousands of wood stove users in Idaho, Eastern Washington and Western Montana.

The goal is to foster safe, efficient use of bio-energy fuels such as wood pellets and compressed wood logs and to help improve air quality in the region by reducing particulate emissions through proper wood-burning techniques.

Wood stoves provide heating for thousands of families in the three-state region. Wood smoke is a major factor in air quality problems that frequently develop during the winter months.

The program was developed by the Idaho Department of Water Resources’ Energy Division. It is being funded jointly by Idaho, Washington and Montana representatives of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska regional bio-energy program and others.

“Burn Clean, Burn Smart” will include a full week of special consumer information segments presented by TV weather personalities. Weather people will provide viewers with tips for clean and efficient wood stove use designed to promote awareness and education about good wood-burning practices and how they relate to and directly can affect energy conservation and air quality.

The Idaho Energy Division and the Idaho Division of Environmental Quality have conducted limited “Burn Clean, Burn Smart” programs twice in the last year in southwestern and eastern Idaho. Those programs resulted in nearly 1,500 thermometers being provided to Idaho residents with wood-burning stoves.