Greenhouse gasses. All fuels produce carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, when they burn. When the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gasses increases, they cause the average global temperature to rise.

Wood differs from the fossil fuels coal, oil and gas, because it is part of the natural carbon/carbon dioxide cycle. As a tree grows, it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and stores it in the wood as carbon, which makes up about half of the weight of wood. When the wood is burned, carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere. No additional carbon is released because the same amount of carbon dioxide would be released if the tree died and were left to rot on the forest floor. The carbon in coal, oil and gas, by contrast, are taken from underground stores, where they were deposited by Nature, and released into the air without means for equal reabsorption.

When trees are used for energy, a part of the forest’s annual growth is diverted from the natural decay and forest fire cycle into our homes to heat them. Both natural firewood and firelogs — made by compressing waste sawdust — are energy products from the forest. Burning wood actually helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing the use of oil, gas and coal.

Air pollutants. Smoldering, smoky fires that produce a plume of blue-grey smoke from the chimney are the main cause of wood heat-related air pollution. Wood smoke can be harmful when it is inhaled. That wood smoke has become a major air pollution problem in many communities has led to both local regulations and more efficient wood-burning appliances.

Joe assumes that one needs to cut down living trees in order to burn wood. This is a false assumption. There is an enormous amount of blown down, fallen branches and dead standing trees to heat many homes on a sustainable basis. In addition, decaying trees produce methane gas which is a seven times more potent greenhouse gas when compared with carbon dioxide (combustion products). While wood is not a practical means to heat all of the USA, it is a viable and preferable technology in many local areas where dead scrap wood is abundant.

Wood is a renewable resource, which means that it can be restored and replenished by nature in a period of time that is compatible with our human use. Provided they are cared for and managed properly, our forests can be a perpetual source of fuel, unlike gas, oil, and coal, which we are being depleted at a rate that is astonishingly faster than the millions of years it took Nature to make them.

Greenhouse gasses. All fuels produce carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, when they burn. When the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gasses increases, they cause the average global temperature to rise.

Wood differs from the fossil fuels coal, oil and gas, because it is part of the natural carbon/carbon dioxide cycle. As a tree grows, it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and stores it in the wood as carbon, which makes up about half of the weight of wood. When the wood is burned, carbon dioxide is released back into the atmosphere. No additional carbon is released because the same amount of carbon dioxide would be released if the tree died and were left to rot on the forest floor. The carbon in coal, oil and gas, by contrast, are taken from underground stores, where they were deposited by Nature, and released into the air without means for equal reabsorption.

When trees are used for energy, a part of the forest’s annual growth is diverted from the natural decay and forest fire cycle into our homes to heat them. Both natural firewood and firelogs — made by compressing waste sawdust — are energy products from the forest. Burning wood actually helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing the use of oil, gas and coal.

Air pollutants. Smoldering, smoky fires that produce a plume of blue-grey smoke from the chimney are the main cause of wood heat-related air pollution. Wood smoke can be harmful when it is inhaled. That wood smoke has become a major air pollution problem in many communities has led to both local regulations and more efficient wood-burning appliances.

Continued…