Previous efforts to improve Utah’s notorious winter air quality have focused on reducing pollution from vehicles (mobile sources) and industry (point sources). But a new Utah Foundation study Bringing Air Quality Home: Reducing Residential Emissions shows a focus on widely distributed area sources, including home appliances such as water heaters, could result in significant improvements as well.
Bringing building codes up to current standards, including a requirement for ultra-low NOx water heaters in new construction, could go a long way toward reducing the number of days the air in Wasatch Front counties exceeds federal pollution standards. NOx, or nitrogen oxides, are produced when natural gas is burned in water heaters or furnaces. A chemical reaction converts NOx gases into the microscopic PM 2.5 particles that make the air unhealthy during inversion periods. Ultra-low NOx water heaters produce about one-quarter of the nitrogen oxide emissions of standard models.
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