Economic Shutdown Not Leading To Cleaner Air in Germany – Results From Weather Pattern

Now that severe restrictions concerning mobility and social distance have been put in place and led to a shut down of a large part of the economy, climate activists claim that already we are seeing huge environmental benefits, among them: cleaner air.

One person here in Germany even tweeted that he had not seen such clean air since his childhood, and attributed it to scale-down of human activity.

But German wetteronline.de here reports the clean air central Europe has seen recently since the COVID 19 crisis began is not the result of the shutdown, but is mostly due to the current weather pattern over Europe.

Wetteronline.de reports:

The lower volume of traffic and the largely idle economy certainly has an impact on the concentration of dust and dirt in the air. However, the current weather situation is much more important. On the verge of a powerful high over the Baltic, dry and cold air is being carried from Siberia to Central Europe. It is very clear and pure. In addition, there is a gusty easterly wind, which leaves no chance for a so-called inversion. Under such an inversion the concentration of dust, soot and dirt would increase rapidly.”

Wood burning the biggest threat

Moreover, a heated debate has been unleashed by Swiss meteorologist Jörg Kachelmann, who says the biggest threat to clean air in Germany is the now increasing use of wood burning for home heating.

40 times dirtier than natural gas

According to the veteran meteorologist, “nothing burns dirtier than wood and its additives” and “every wood stove is an environmental catastrophe”. The following chart shows the fine particle emissions from various heating fuels:

Wood pellets are 40 times worse than natural gas.

With governments moving to restrict fossil heating fuels and encouraging “renewable” wood, more and more Germans are opting for wood heat. Thus climate activists have to expect the air to become dirtier – much dirtier – and not cleaner should restrictions be enacted against the fossil fuel economy.

 

6 responses to “Economic Shutdown Not Leading To Cleaner Air in Germany – Results From Weather Pattern”

  1. John F. Hultquist

    Modern wood stoves have a catalytic combustor (converter)

    . . . demonstration here:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=96kA_Cwye04

    These are now required in some places.
    Older stoves cannot be sold. Incentives for the catalytic
    type are often available, with destruction of the old one
    if this is a replacement purchase.

    I wonder if Jörg Kachelmann is not using data from an older
    “fire box” stove?

  2. ahlam st

    Wood can be replaced and used by solar energy, this will be better for a clean environment.

    1. W.L. Hyde

      We live on the northward facing slope leading down to a lake. In our house the sun goes below the hill around November 25th and we don’t see it again for a month and a half. It’s mostly cloudy during the winter months, but when the sun finally reappears in January it’s on the horizon and has a low angle, and only around noon is it fully visible. If there is a power outage and we are away, the pipes will freeze in our walls, and break. Very expensive! What would you recommend for me and my family?

  3. Pat

    I installed a multi fuel stove some years ago because I feared the the switch to intermittent forms of electricity production would result eventually in power cuts, and I wanted dependable heating. I don’t suppose I am unique.The
    If the power cuts get real expect many others to go for whatever fuel they can get, rather than freeze.
    So the focus on “green” energy is promoting the very “problem” it was meant to solve

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