Annika Lenz completely agrees that wood stoves can be sentimental. The Watermal-Bosford resident lives in a neighborhood where many residents burn wood for fun. “Absolutely scary“It’s so bad that I had to make a plea in the local Facebook group: ‘Please don’t turn on the heater first thing in the morning, so we at least have some time to air out our house,’ sighs the Austrian. This is hopeless in the evening after work anyway. “And when I get the laundry, it smells like barbecue.”
Reichenfenstop
It seems that many wood stovers don’t realize how harmful smoke from wood stoves is, Lenz says. “In California, firewood must carry a warning that burning wood is carcinogenic. That seems the least to me.”
German Sven Dammann is also disturbed by wood smoke in Watermaal-Bosvoorde. “People come to live in the municipality because of the clean air, but they destroy it themselves. In this context, the German meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann coined the term “Reichenfeinstaub”, that is, the molecular matter found in rich neighborhoods, so to speak.
“Good intention, but a very small step.”
If burning wood is so harmful, why aren’t wood stoves completely banned in the city? “Initiating new legislation is always easier for the future than for the current situation,” explains Christophe Danlois from Environment Brussels. “In addition, the government must also be able to monitor the new rules and there is a population that has no alternative. But it is true that stricter regulations will be beneficial for air quality.
Dunlois realizes that the wood stove is also a climate enemy. “Wood may be the fuel that grows back, but combustion releases more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and thus contributes to global warming. Directly through combustion, but also through the transportation of firewood that comes from Indonesia, among other places.
Architect Leo van Broek, head of the Brussels region’s climate expert committee, has a more frank opinion about the wood stove. “Just stop burning things, especially wood, for the sake of air quality and climate. Just banning used stoves is not enough. This is like saying you will cut smoking in daycare centers by half. What the government is doing now is a well-intentioned step, but it is very small.” .
