Perceived by many people as a comforting source of heat and a bulwark against the repercussions of prolonged power outages, fireplaces are popular in Quebec. However, the health and environmental impacts associated with this practice are numerous, despite the measures put in place by several municipalities to better regulate wood heating, experts point out.
Fireplaces and wood-burning stoves are part of the Quebec collective imagination. The use of slow-burning stoves as a source of auxiliary heating has also experienced a considerable leap since the ice storm. from 1998, which plunged 1.4 million Hydro-Quebec subscribers into the dark. It will then have been necessary to wait more than a month before all the affected customers are again connected to the electricity network.
Twenty-five years later, wood heating continues to be popular in the province. The latest data compiled by Natural Resources Canada show that nearly 241,000 households used this source of heat in 2019, a slight increase compared to previous years, although their proportion remained stable at 6.5% taking into account account of population growth.
Jade Bourdages, who lives in a century-old house in the Hochelaga district with several other people, has just spent more than $16,000 to buy and install a “very contemporary” wood stove in her home. “The atmosphere is really better when you heat with wood,” said the Montrealer in an interview.
In the nation’s capital, a region that was particularly affected by the winter storm that swept across Quebec in time for Christmas Eve, several residents who faced power outages stretching over several days were well happy to be able to light a fire in their house to keep warm.
“In the event of a power outage, you are never in trouble if there is a fire in the house,” notes Dominik Gendreau, who lives in the Cap-Rouge district of Quebec. He uses his slow-burning stove as back-up heating “every day during the cold period”.
Laïd Bouloussa, who lives in Quebec, was planning until recently to dispose of his old wood stove, which he only uses occasionally. However, the father of the family changed his mind after having lost electricity for five days during the holiday season this year. His wood-burning appliance then allowed him to warm up his home while being plunged into darkness. “We were thinking of removing it outright because we had to change the type of home. But with what happened, we will change it for a home that is regulatory, he says. It’s a question of survival. »
Health impacts
However, urban wood burning can have significant health and environmental impacts.
“Wood heating contributes significantly to the deterioration of outdoor air quality,” recalls the deputy medical director at the Montreal Regional Public Health Department, David Kaiser. By emitting large quantities of fine particles, wood-burning appliances can thus exacerbate the symptoms of asthma, contribute to the formation of cardiovascular diseases and cases of lung cancer, says the expert. Premature deaths can thus result, he adds.
“When you’re in a cloud of smog related to wood heating, it’s hard to breathe,” says the president of the Quebec Association for the Fight Against Air Pollution (AQLPA), André Bélisle. In several cities in Quebec, wood heating is one of the main sources of smog in winter, along with road transport and factories, among others. “Very often, wood heating is the straw that breaks the camel’s back” in terms of air pollution, illustrates Mr. Bélisle.
More and more studies also tend to show that some of the fine particles emitted by fireplaces and wood-burning stoves can accumulate in homes and degrade the quality of the ambient air there, adds Mr. Kaiser. . In other words, “there is also a risk for oneself in heating with wood,” he points out.
It is in this context that several cities have adopted regulations in recent years to try to curb the pollution caused by the use of chimney fires and wood stoves. Since 2018, the City of Montreal has banned the use of wood-burning stoves and fireplaces that emit more than 2.5 grams of fine particles per hour. By way of comparison, wood-burning appliances built before 1990 emit an average of 60 to 100 grams per hour of fine particles into the atmosphere. Wood heating is also prohibited in the metropolis during smog episodes.
Since then, the City has noted a drop in the emission of fine particles on its territory, at least in Rivière-des-Prairies, where the air quality was measured as part of a report published in February 2021. As for smog episodes, to which winter fires contribute in part, they have experienced a certain decrease in recent years, with the exception of 2020, show data provided by the City in To have to.
Moreover, in 2020, 9 of the 10 days of smog related to fine particles and ozone in the air in Montreal occurred in winter, a period during which wood-burning appliances are used. In Quebec, in comparison, 19 days of smog were reported in 2020, and 15 in 2021, two years marked by the pandemic.
Compliance with current standards
Quebec City has also banned wood heating since 2021 when a smog warning is in effect. In addition, all wood-burning appliances located in this city that do not hold a certification that demonstrates that they emit few fine particles will be banned from 1er September 2026. Of the 25,000 devices that the City estimates to have on its territory, 10 to 30% are currently not certified, she indicates by email.
However, in Montreal as in Quebec, nothing prevents residents from purchasing a new wood-burning stove or fireplace, as long as it meets the standards in effect. Thus, in Montreal, since 2015 the City has received just over 53,000 reports concerning such wood-burning appliances, barely 7% of which involved removals or replacements of appliances, according to data provided to the To have to.
However, André Bélisle has been insisting for several years now that we must “stop installing wood-burning stoves in the city”, however modern they may be, if we want the environmental effects associated with the use of these devices decrease accordingly. “If we add ever more wood heating in the city, we will intensify the smog problems. And smog kills. »