On a cold winter day, few things are more appealing than a nice crackling fire in either a hearth or a wood stove. And many still rely on wood to heat their homes, especially in the more remote areas of Ulster, where electricity can and does go out more often.

But state officials say reducing the volume of wood smoke in New York could improve the health of residents and help lower the state’s carbon footprint.

During its October 2020 meeting, the New York State Climate Action Council discussed the benefits of reducing the state's wood consumption by 40 percent to meet the state’s climate and air quality goals.

These goals were detailed in the state’s 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. The law mandated that the Climate Action Council find strategies to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent compared to 1990 levels by 2030. The state aims to achieve “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions,” where the volume of greenhouse gasses released is negligible compared to their reduction, by 2050.

According to the council’s 2021 Draft Scoping Plan, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimated that the volume of PM2.5 emissions (polluting particles two and a half microns or less in width, released by wood burning) coming from residential wood heating in New York was greater than that from other sources of residential and commercial power generation combined, even though only 2 percent of New York homes use wood heating.

The presence of PM2.5 particles is linked to symptoms like chest pain and heart rhythm changes, and could increase the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and asthma, according to the scoping plan. Elderly folks, children and low-income residents are particularly vulnerable to wood smoke exposure, the document continued. The council claims 40 percent of the benefits that could come from the plan are associated with reducing wood smoke.

Julie Noble, Kingston’s environmental education and sustainability coordinator, is working with Bard College and the Kingston Conservation Advisory Council (KCAC) on the “Kingston Air Quality Initiative,” which monitors the PM2.5 levels at the neighborhood scale.

On the City of Kingston website, under “Air Quality and Wood burning,” the KCAC said that using wood for heating is one of the dirtiest ways to stay warm. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration data, it was estimated that 1,573.63 tons of wood was used to fuel Kingston homes in 2010. This created 193 tons of “carbon dioxide equivalent” emissions; i.e. even though what comes out of Kingston chimneys is not all CO2, combined, it has the same effect as emitting 193 tons of carbon dioxide.

That said, reducing the amount of wood burned in Kingston isn’t the city’s priority, Noble explained.

“Per our 2010 greenhouse gas emission inventory we determined that fewer than 70 homes in Kingston use wood as their primary source of heat so the focus is really on education and electrification,” Noble wrote in an email.

In a December KCAC meeting, Bard Professor Eli Dueker explained that PM2.5 emissions are often caused when wood fuel is not fully burnt before the smoke is released. Common sources for PM2.5 emissions included campfires, brush fires and wood stoves. Bard will work with Kingston to make air-quality data available for public education while the city works to promote the use of electric for both heating and vehicles.

The state is preparing for how a cut in wood consumption may impact the economy and hopes to add thousands of jobs in new clean-energy industries. As required by the Climate Act, the Just Transition Working Group conducted a study to examine the number of jobs that would be created to combat climate change and the training required for the new workforce, according to a New York State Energy Research & Development Authority spokesperson. Initial findings reveal that New York stands to see 10 new jobs for every potential lost job in sectors involving conventional heating and fuel. This could result in hundreds of thousands of new jobs for the state by 2030 and beyond, with the largest pay increases coming from middle-wage positions, the spokesperson continued.

NYSERDA has already committed nearly $120 million to support existing workforce development and training initiatives to prepare over 40,000 New Yorkers for emerging clean-energy jobs and to help businesses find qualified workers, according to the spokesperson. NYSERDA is also funding internships and on-the-job training for folks looking to join the clean energy workforce. One example was the $6 million Climate Justice Fellowships initiative that specifically targeted disadvantaged communities.