Is King’s Air Dirtier?

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In this week’s Oregonian story on air pollution in NW Portland, this map of relative air quality was included. It is notable for the dark area in the center of King showing a higher concentration of pollutants. The number one contributor is listed as wood burning followed by the catch-all “area” category which includes: business and home fuel use, commercial cooking,
fuel storage and asphalt application. Is there more we could be doing?

2 thoughts on “Is King’s Air Dirtier?”

  1. Hmm. Do we really have that much burning wood in our neighborhood?

    Every day I leave the house and feel lucky to be able to look forward to the first lungful of “undesirable noxious or toxic substances, such as carbon monoxide (CO) from incomplete combustion, hydrocarbons (properly indicated as CxHy, but typically shown simply as “HC” on emissions-test slips) from unburnt fuel, nitrogen oxides (NOx) from excessive combustion temperatures, Ozone (O3), and particulate matter (mostly soot).” (wiki)

    Automobile exhaust makes my neighborhood smell disgusting and poisons the air we share. Wood burning, though? I had no idea.

    –Alan

  2. I too thought the wood burning contribution was a bit of a stretch…try living in a bankrupt logging town (Aberdeen, Wa) now theres some wood burning (stoves/fireplaces) !!

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