New Healthy Heating Workshop

For many of us, home heating is often done without much thought.  A flip of a switch, a twist of a dial, or even smartphones are used to regulate the temperature of our homes.  We occasionally need to change of a furnace filter.  In contrast, consider the complexities at Hopi, where the majority of households heat their homes with coal and/or wood.   In the old days, families would mine coal locally by manually digging it from the sides of the Hopi Mesas.   In more modern times, families have received “free” coal from the Kayenta mine roughly sixty miles from Second Mesa, AZ.  Of course, free doesn’t account for the long drive on rough roads, gasoline expenses, or the manual labor of loading the coal into the bed of one’s pickup truck and then unloading at home. And of even greater concern is the impact of coal burning on human health, which has been linked to numerous aliments and illnesses.  It’s not uncommon to see ceilings covered in black coal dust, which helps explain the high asthma rates and respiratory complications.   Nor is it uncommon to encounter antiquated pot belly stoves that, while able to sufficiently heat a home, lack the technological advances of more modern stoves that help reduce negative impacts on indoor air quality.  To further add to the mix, it is anticipated that Kayenta mine will close at the end of 2019, leaving many wondering how they’re going to heat their home.  The burning of wood will surely increase.  With a switch from coal to wood we worry about chimney fires, due to the much faster buildup of the highly flammable creosote than people are used to with coal.   It is also likely there will be a switch to space heaters, which are inexpensive to purchase and easy to use.  Unfortunately, space heaters happen to be the number one cause of house fires in the United States and the leading cause of deaths in home fires due to the nature of the fire starting at the ground level which leaves little time for escape.   Not to mention this is one of the most expensive ways to heat a home.  Other heating options could include propane, solar furnaces, passive solar, and mini-split heat pumps.       
 

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Seeing and hearing about these risks and challenges, we felt it important to share them and wanted to empower people to keep their families safe and healthy.  With a broad group of partners, we have developed a new workshop entitled DIY Healthy Heating, which we recently piloted in the Hopi Villages of Bacavi and Kykotsmovi, reaching a total of 26 students.   The focus of the class is to build awareness of the health and safety risks associated with home heating; provide basic wood and coal stove maintenance and operation strategies; and introduce alternative heating options such as propane, solar furnaces, passive solar, and min-split heat pumps.  Course graduates receive empowering educational resources, as well as a kit that includes smoke and carbon monoxide alarms, a fire extinguisher, and stove maintenance supplies.   We are also launching a local radio and newspaper campaign to build larger scale awareness of the importance of home heating decisions.  Finally, we are exploring funding opportunities that would help families in need of replacing their heating systems with newer technology.     The development of the class has involved extensive community listening, as well as collaborative support by partners at University of Arizona, Northern Arizona University, Rockford Forge Ltd, Flagstaff Heating and Cooling, Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Education Foundation, National Fireplace Institute, Hopi Fire Department, and Olympia Chimney Supply.   Additionally, this work would not have been possible without the shared vision and generous funding support of the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice.  ​Our sincere thanks to many groups and individuals who made this workshop a possibility. 

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A Solar Furnace can heat a home for free during the day