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Displacing Wood Use with Electric Thermal Storage Heating to Improve Ambient Air Quality
The Fairbanks North Star Borough (FNSB), located in interior Alaska, has high levels of a pollutant called PM2.5, which are tiny particles that are harmful to one’s health when inhaled. The largest source of PM2.5 in the FNSB is wood burned for home heating, but people burn wood because it is a lower cost alternative to other available heating fuels. Researchers at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, Texas Tech University, and Northern Arizona University are collaborating on a study that uses electric thermal storage heaters (ETSH) to displace wood burned for home heating.
Baseline data on PM2.5 emissions were collected for one year in two neighborhoods that historically have had high levels of PM2.5 emissions. The next year, ETSH were installed in homes in one of the neighborhoods, and data collection on PM2.5 emissions in both neighborhoods continued. The electricity used by the ETSH was sold to study participants at a discounted rate. The data collected from the study will allow researchers to assess the impact of ETSH use on PM2.5 emissions and home energy costs.
Project collaborators include local teachers, the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, the Fairbanks North Star Borough, the City of North Pole, Golden Valley Electric Association, Intelligent Energy Systems, and the study participants.
If you have any questions or are interested in learning more about this project, please visit the project website or contact Dominique Pride (PI) at djpride@alaska.edu.
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