Should the burning of Turf be made illegal now in Ireland these days?

Andy From Sligo

Should it be made illegal to burn turf in fires and ranges now in Ireland? - it may be quaint and remind us all of old Ireland but when you drive into towns and villages these days the smell is acrid and irritates the throat and causes a lot of smoke in the air and visibility becomes poor especially in the freezing cold weather and when its misty/foggy. I thought these days 'smokey fuel' was banned anyway ? (not sure whether just for Towns or towns and villages?) we have to shut windows when people are burning turf but the smell still gets into the house through the wall vents you cannot close off.

Kevin McCloud

I never visit sligo so does not bother me op.

I love the smell of it.


Long live Turf ( or something...)

Andy From Sligo

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

I never visit sligo so does not bother me op.

I never leave Sligo!, LOL - but it must happen in other towns and villages in the rest of Ireland?

The One Doctor

It makes for some very nasty pollution, and people with lung problems such as myself can be badly affected by it. Yes, it should be made illegal.

Not a chance! I spent days and days on the bog this summer turning and footing and gathering and bagging and hauling into a dumper and taking them out of the dumper and stacking in my mum's turf shed and stacking in my back garden.

That sort of thing doesn't comes easy for a city chick like me. Damn well gonna burn the stuff after all that work!

[ssf] commando [/ssf]

Kevin McCloud

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I never leave Sligo!, LOL - but it must happen in other towns and villages in the rest of Ireland?

Do you think burning oil, gas, timber, coal etc is carbon neutral?

tampopo

Gas is the cleanest thing you could burn, tbh.

BoJack Horseman

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

Do you think burning oil, gas, timber, coal etc is carbon neutral?

If you were to rank carbon fuels by how much co2 they release, turf/peat is the worst.

(Natural gas being the best).

I never understood the construction of peat fired power plants..... when Ireland is the Saudi Arabia of wind.

Reoil

Feck off. Can't beat the smell of turf. Up there as one of the best.

Kevin McCloud

Reoil wrote: »

Feck off. Can't beat the smell of turf. Up there as one of the best.

Try smoking it.

BoJack Horseman

Kevin McCloud wrote: »

Try smoking it.

Eat it.

As god intended.

MadsL

Other countries pass environmental protection orders and spend thousands on bog rehabilitation.

Ireland ignores EU law and drains and cuts bogs that took hundreds of thousands of years to form then burns them.

Draw your own conclusions but burning turf is not just horrible in the emissions caused but also prevents bogs from absorbing CO2 and being the very effective carbon sinks they naturally form when left alone.

F*cking with ecosystems is generally a bad idea.

Graces7

Philistines! There is nothing but nothing to equal the sheer pleasure of turf..I lived nine years on an offshore Scottish island where we burnt only turf and when I can get it here , sheer bliss .

If you cut your own it is free too....LONG LIVE TURF! My kind landlord has given me a few bags and I am eking it out.

NB if you really suffer so badly then you should be wearing a mask anyway; am quite serious about that by the way not mocking. There is pollution everywhere especially from cars and lorries

Graces7

MadsL wrote: »

Other countries pass environmental protection orders and spend thousands on bog rehabilitation.

Ireland ignores EU law and drains and cuts bogs that took hundreds of thousands of years to form then burns them.

Draw your own conclusions but burning turf is not just horrible in the emissions caused but also prevents bogs from absorbing CO2 and being the very effective carbon sinks they naturally form when left alone.

F*cking with ecosystems is generally a bad idea.

You must be driving around with your eyes closed as bog reclamation is going on in many area.

Burning turf is wonderful...

Graces7

Oh what please is "buring" in the title!

Carawaystick

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

If you were to rank carbon fuels by how much co2 they release, turf/peat is the worst.

(Natural gas being the best).

I never understood the construction of peat fired power plants..... when Ireland is the Saudi Arabia of wind.

Timber is the best, being carbon dioxode neutral.

The turf power stations were built before wind turbines existed even in some danish engineers dreams.
I know they were rebuilt later, for "security of supply" reasons

Graces7

The One Doctor wrote: »

It makes for some very nasty pollution, and people with lung problems such as myself can be badly affected by it. Yes, it should be made illegal.

Wear a mask then.....as you should be doing anyways.. or stay home as cars etc pollute.. I get bad effects from cars but live with turf and never a bad time.. aitm!

Galwayguy35

I spent the summer footing the turf so I'll happily burn it now.

mass_debater

Just ban airplanes, they're huge polluters they fail to mention

SEPT 23 1989

Country people burning their rubbish in their back gardens is far worse

Tokyo

I don't have a problem with it - it's a valuable resource. The bigger issue though is the cutting of bogs that should be set aside for conservation, particularly when there are schemes in place to reimburse bog owners with either cash, or turf cut from other areas that aren't being preserved. I don't get the mentality myself...

Wichita Lineman

Leave our turf alone townies.

Pollution in Ireland from cars, farting cows and turf fires is a pinprick in the overall scheme of things and anyone who thinks that us being as green as green can be will make a blind bit of difference while super power industrial scale pollution giants like Japan, China, USA and Russia carry on regardless is very naïve.

Galwayguy35

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

Country people burning their rubbish in their back gardens is far worse

We pay for our rubbish to be collected, just like the townies.

crockholm

Leave us to our bogs-Think of the impact it will have on our junkie,green concoction drinking jackeens no longer being able to call us "Boggers" "Bog Warriors" "Bog Arabs" etc.

mikeym

They want to get rid of Smokey Polish Coal aswell.


http://www.rte.ie/news/2014/1203/664288-smoky-coal/

I say nay!

Victor

Air pollution is still a major problem, especially in urban areas. The differentce between now and the 1980s is that the pollution is harder to see. The current problems are with very small particles (PM10s and PM2.5s) and sulphur / nitrogen compounds.

There was an article, it might have been yesterday, that smoke pollution is implicated in about 2,000 deaths per year.

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

I thought these days 'smokey fuel' was banned anyway ? (not sure whether just for Towns or towns and villages?)

The restrictions generally apply to towns with a population over 15,000.

DEFTLEFTHAND

crockholm wrote: »

Leave us to our bogs-Think of the impact it will have on our junkie,green concoction drinking jackeens no longer being able to call us "Boggers" "Bog Warriors" "Bog Arabs" etc.

Bog Arabs? That's one I hadn't heard before.

Andy From Sligo

Graces7 wrote: »

Oh what please is "buring" in the title!

Haha well do e for oticing that i eed a ew keyboard!

catallus

There's no real heat off timber though.

Tokyo

catallus wrote: »

There's no real heat off timber though.

Far more heat off properly dried timber than there is off turf...

catallus

You sure?

Tokyo

catallus wrote: »

You sure?

In my experience at least, yes. Grew up burning both in the kitchen range, and the fireplace, and timber gives off far more heat.

Tail Docker

catallus wrote: »

There's no real heat off timber though.

Umm, you're doing it wrong so.

mikom

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

Should it be made illegal to burn turf in fires and ranges now in Ireland? - it may be quaint and remind us all of old Ireland but when you drive into towns and villages these days the smell is acrid and irritates the throat and causes a lot of smoke in the air and visibility becomes poor especially in the freezing cold weather and when its misty/foggy. I thought these days 'smokey fuel' was banned anyway ? (not sure whether just for Towns or towns and villages?) we have to shut windows when people are burning turf but the smell still gets into the house through the wall vents you cannot close off.

All the cool kids are vaping turf now anyways..........

Manach

Unless it cause significant pollution issues, the introduction of legislation on this matter would be even more statist interference in everyday life.

catallus

Well I burn coal and it's much hotter than timber.

ScumLord

I've never noticed a problem with pollution in small towns from burning turf.

Many people have oil now and don't rely on turf to heat the home anymore. during the boom a lot of people were convinced to remove the back boiler from their range and switch to oil. A really stupid thing to do as it's a complete waste of a range.

Turf isn't really a good fuel, it's supplements coal nicely but I wouldn't like to depend on it.

who the fug

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

If you were to rank carbon fuels by how much co2 they release, turf/peat is the worst.

(Natural gas being the best).

I never understood the construction of peat fired power plants..... when Ireland is the Saudi Arabia of wind.

Funny enough we get days when we don't have wind, then we have days when the wind is too strong

Wind power is a nice concept but we need oil/coal/turf to back it up

Galwayguy35

catallus wrote: »

Well I burn coal and it's much hotter than timber.

Great heat off an ash tree, when it's left to season and dry properly.

Don't burn a freshly cut tree.

Del2005

MadsL wrote: »

Other countries pass environmental protection orders and spend thousands on bog rehabilitation.

Ireland ignores EU law and drains and cuts bogs that took hundreds of thousands of years to form then burns them.

Draw your own conclusions but burning turf is not just horrible in the emissions caused but also prevents bogs from absorbing CO2 and being the very effective carbon sinks they naturally form when left alone.

F*cking with ecosystems is generally a bad idea.

A lot of German power comes from lignite, which is just a tiny bit older than turf, and they have increased their burning of it since they panic turned off their nuclear power. Have a look at a lignite mine and tell me that we are doing worst to our ecosystem.

Tokyo

catallus wrote: »

Well I burn coal and it's much hotter than timber.

Um, okay??

coal != turf....

catallus

Galwayguy35 wrote: »

Great heat off an ash tree, when it's left to season and dry properly.

Don't burn a freshly cut tree.

Why shouldn't one burn a freshly cut tree?

Are ash trees hotter than other trees?

Personally I don't think we should burn fire-wood at all.

Duckworth_Luas

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

I never understood the construction of peat fired power plants..... when Ireland is the Saudi Arabia of wind.

crockholm wrote: »

Think of the impact it will have on ... jackeens no longer being able to call us "Bog Arabs"

So am I a "Bog Arab" or a "Wind Arab"?

gctest50

catallus wrote: »

Why shouldn't one burn a freshly cut tree?

Are ash trees hotter than other trees?

Personally I don't think we should burn fire-wood at all.

huge difference in heat out of dried wood

http://img.ie/cnxnx.jpg <<<<<<<

needs to be dried properly though - using a meter on it is a waste of time if its wet in the centre

Andy From Sligo

after ive been outside when they've been burning turf in the village or if ive been in someone's house who's burning turf, my hair and clothes stink of it, gets right into the fibres and i get this horrible back-taste in my mouth as well, cant describe it really but its a horrible taste...

mikom

Andy From Sligo wrote: »

after ive been outside when they've been burning turf in the village or if ive been in someone's house who's burning turf, my hair and clothes stink of it, gets right into the fibres and i get this horrible back-taste in my mouth as well, cant describe it really but its a horrible taste...

Is it bitter?

Andy From Sligo

mikom wrote: »

Is it bitter?

Yeah, i suppose thats how you could describe it...

Andy From Sligo

when I used to come over to Ireland on holiday in the 90's one of the things I loved about Ireland apart from the scenery was the smell of burning turf from the houses in the streets ........ cant stand the smell now these days though! :-)

corsav6

Living in the sticks so we burn a lot of turf. 1 40kg bag of the finest smokey coal and 10ish bags of turf a week covers all hot water and rads, we don't use the oil at all.
Got a load of dry ash for free early on in the year so used a fair bit.
With the turf and coal combination we get a large build up of soot in the stove and the glass is always black within 20 mins. Turf on its own can't even properly keep the rads hot, coal needs to be added every 3 top ups.
With the timber on it's own the rads are red hot shortly after lighting and stay that way, no need for coal at all.
I also find that I get very little ash with the timber but with the turf I sometimes need to empty it midway through the day. The timber also keeps the glass clean.
So as someone who uses both turf and timber I can safely say that timber beats turf in most ways, except price as properly dried timber can be expensive.
Sorry for the long post, I'm bored

Mister Vain

With the price of oil I'll be sticking with the turf thank you very much.