TY - JOUR
T1 - The impact of a community-wide woodstove changeout intervention on air quality within two schools
AU - Ward, Tony J.
AU - Palmer, Christopher P.
AU - Hooper, Kathi
AU - Bergauff, Megan
AU - Noonan, Curtis W.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Kirby Maki, Ken Foss, and Ron Goodman for their cooperation and for providing access to the elementary and middle schools in Libby. This work was funded in part by the Health Effects Institute ( #4743–RFA04–4/06–4 ), and NIH COBRE grant P20 RR01760 from NCRR.
PY - 2013/4
Y1 - 2013/4
N2 - Due to temperature inversions and widespread residential woodstove use, Libby, Montana historically experienced elevated levels of ambient woodsmoke PM2.5 throughout the winter months. In an effort to reduce wintertime PM2.5, a large community-wide woodstove changeout was conducted between 2005 and 2007, removing nearly 1 200 old polluting stoves from service. To determine the impact of this intervention on indoor air quality, PM2.5 sampling was conducted in the gymnasiums of an elementary and middle school before, during, and after the woodstove changeout over a four-year period. Throughout the program, results showed that indoor PM2.5 concentrations at the elementary school were moderately high regardless of year or season (mean±sd, 31.9±14.1 μg/m3), ranging from 11.0 μg/m3 to 79.3 μg/m3. At the middle school, the mean was 12.2±11.2 μg/m3, with no differences by season. Although there was an overall improvement in ambient air quality (and reduction of woodsmoke-PM2.5) when comparing pre- and post-changeout PM2.5 concentrations, results suggest that the community-wide woodstove changeout did not have a significant impact on indoor air quality within the gymnasiums over this same time period. These findings are supported by the results of selected chemical markers of woodsmoke measured from indoor PM (including levoglucosan) at both schools, which also demonstrated no significant reductions throughout the four-year sampling program.
AB - Due to temperature inversions and widespread residential woodstove use, Libby, Montana historically experienced elevated levels of ambient woodsmoke PM2.5 throughout the winter months. In an effort to reduce wintertime PM2.5, a large community-wide woodstove changeout was conducted between 2005 and 2007, removing nearly 1 200 old polluting stoves from service. To determine the impact of this intervention on indoor air quality, PM2.5 sampling was conducted in the gymnasiums of an elementary and middle school before, during, and after the woodstove changeout over a four-year period. Throughout the program, results showed that indoor PM2.5 concentrations at the elementary school were moderately high regardless of year or season (mean±sd, 31.9±14.1 μg/m3), ranging from 11.0 μg/m3 to 79.3 μg/m3. At the middle school, the mean was 12.2±11.2 μg/m3, with no differences by season. Although there was an overall improvement in ambient air quality (and reduction of woodsmoke-PM2.5) when comparing pre- and post-changeout PM2.5 concentrations, results suggest that the community-wide woodstove changeout did not have a significant impact on indoor air quality within the gymnasiums over this same time period. These findings are supported by the results of selected chemical markers of woodsmoke measured from indoor PM (including levoglucosan) at both schools, which also demonstrated no significant reductions throughout the four-year sampling program.
KW - Gymnasium
KW - School
KW - Smoke
KW - Woodstove
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84882767537&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.5094/APR.2013.025
DO - 10.5094/APR.2013.025
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84882767537
SN - 1309-1042
VL - 4
SP - 238
EP - 244
JO - Atmospheric Pollution Research
JF - Atmospheric Pollution Research
IS - 2
ER -