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...