MID-ATLANTIC REGIONAL AIR MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION
Emissions Inventory Improvement Program (EIIP)
Residential Wood Combustion Coordination Project
Survey Preparation
Before designing a residential wood combustion survey, familiarization with general survey procedures and survey design for area source emissions inventories is recommended. Some background information on surveying techniques is worth discussing although it is not the primary focus of this report. The primary focus of this report is on the specifics of RWC surveys in developing emissions inventories. It should be noted that the EPA has provided guidance for general survey methodology in the EIIP Technical Report Series, Volume III, Area Sources and Area Source Method Abstracts, Chapter 24, Conducting Surveys for Area Source Inventories.
The first step in developing a RWC emissions inventory is to determine if a survey is necessary. If it is decided to conduct a survey, thorough planning is essential. Initial planning should include an evaluation of the data quality requirements and a project budget. Before starting to design the survey, the information needed to develop an emissions inventory should be identified. Typically RWC emissions inventories require: types of appliance at each residence, how many appliances each residence has, how much fuel is burned in each appliance and residence demographics for extrapolating survey results to the entire area's population. Useful demographic information includes the urban/rural distribution of a home's residential area, economic distribution of the residential area and the age of residences in the area. In addition to survey results, heating degree-day data for the survey area may be useful when extrapolating survey results.
