# Presentation: 949317

## Renewable Fuels for Healthier Home and  for Healthier Lungs 

**Renewable Fuels for Healthier Home and  for Healthier Lungs**

- Charlie Lippert, Air Quality Technician
- Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe
- Tribal Climate Change Symposium
- Milwaukee, WI	December 1–4, 2008

## Problem:

- 	Each winter, many tribal members end up going on fuel assistance as electricity, natural gas and propane costs soars, and causing economic hardship; however, even with options of burning wood and other cheap solid fuels, with high rates of asthma in the community, this is, in reality, not really an option.

## Possible solution:

- 	After making possible conservation measures, by having a diverse clean heating strategy, such making use of solar-thermal systems and other renewable heat sources, tribal members can emerge out of fuel poverty and take a journey towards energy independence, while safeguarding their lung health.

## Where can we get heat?

- Combustion
- Electricity
- Geo-thermal
- Solar-thermal

## Combustion

- “Raw” Bio-fuels: Wood, Corn, Peat, etc.
- “Processed” Bio-fuels: Pellets, Oils, Gas, etc.
- Petro-fuels: Gases, Oils, Coal
**Advantages**
- Often quite affordable
- Can be cleaner if designed to be so
**Disadvantages**
- Not necessarily easily renewed fuel source
- SOX, NOX, PM2.5 and O3-precursor emissions
- Carbon-based: CO2 and VOC emissions

## Electricity

- Combustion
- Hydro
- Nuclear
- Wind and Solar
**Advantages**
- Extremely clean at the consumer’s end
**Disadvantages**
- Not necessarily clean at the producer’s end
- Extreme landscape changes at the producer’s end
- Not necessarily affordable

## Geo-thermal

- Open-loop
- Closed-loop
**Advantages**
- Extremely clean at the consumer’s end
**Disadvantages**
- Geography: open-loop requires harnessing tectonic activity
- Affordability: closed-loop requires electricity; both open- and closed-loop systems currently are too expensive

## Solar-thermal

- Passive Solar
- Forced Air
- Forced Liquids
**Advantages**
- Extremely clean
**Disadvantages**
- Often requires good building siting and design
- Requires heat-storage capacity
- Often retrofits are not affordable

## 	Man did not weave the web of life – he is merely a strand in it.  Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
Chief Seattle, 1854

- 	Man did not weave the web of life – he is merely a strand in it.  Whatever he does to the web, he does to himself.
- Chief Seattle, 1854

## So, What Can We Do?

- Conserveand Diversify
- Use just what you need
- Don’t rely on just one type of heat-source
- Have a mix of all four types
- Ensure mix is healthy for your lungs and for your wallet

## Phone:	320-532-4704 / 800-709-6445 ext. 4704	Fax: 320-532-7514Home:	320-629-2126 / 651-271-4391e-mail:	charliel@millelacsojibwe.nsn.us (general correspondence) 	charliel.millelacsojibwe@gmail.com (data exchange)

**MILLE LACS BAND OF OJIBWE INDIANS**
- Executive Branch of Tribal Government
**CHARLES JIRÔ LIPPERT**
- Air Quality Technician
- Department of Natural Resources and Environment
- 43408 Oodena Drive
- Onamia, MN 56359-2236

**Notes:**
Biography:As a Chemical Engineer and Environmental Chemist, Charles has been working with Native American Tribes for over a decade and has been with the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe for the past seven years. Charles' duties in safe-guarding the tribe's access to a healthy "Giizhigong" (Sky-World) have him cover the tribal interests in ambient air, indoor air, energy, and up to three-degrees of separation in interconnected activities that may affect the three areas of interest. On his off time, he is one of the editors to the Freelang® Ojibwe Electronic Dictionary and often contributes to Wikipedia®.