Wood as a natural sustainable fuel
Wood as a natural sustainable fuel
Posted May 1, 2011 by:
Why use wood as your chosen fuel.
Wood is the natural sustainable choice of fuel for domestic fires – in use since the first fire many millennia ago. When we warm our homes with wood we participate in a natural cycle and an ongoing continuum of activity that we share with ancient ancestors. I am amazed at the number of country people who do not have fires because they are “too dirty”, or “to much work”. In fact the procedure of building and lighting the fire can be a favourite job of the day, rather than pursuing a life where all comfort comes from the flick of a switch.
Wood fuelled the open fires of the hunter-gatherers, the brick ovens of the first bakers, and until the 19th century, all homes. We love to sit in front of a fire and watch its magical flames speak to us and warm our soles. Have you noticed that when the TV is switched off everyone stares at the fire? Watching a fire is certainly far more relaxing than watching a TV. Fires inspire intimate conversation. When we come in from the cold, we are drawn to the fire. No other fuel is as alive.
Environmental issues
Unlike the burning of fossil fuels like coal, gas or oil, burning firewood releases no more greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide) than would be produced were the wood to simply rot on the forest floor. If we are responsible in the ways we grow, cut and burn our firewood, wood burning can actually be a good choice for the environment.
When we burn wood we are releasing solar energy, in the form of heat, that has been stored in the wood as chemical energy. The process of photosynthesis converted solar energy, water and carbon dioxide into oxygen and the organic molecules that form the wood, half the weight of which is carbon. So burning wood is just the quick reversal of this process, liberating the sun’s heat when we need it most.
So burning wood is a good choice from the greenhouse gas point of view, so long as it is responsibly sourced, stored and burnt. We are now able to enjoy fires as an aesthetic pleasure rather than the basic necessity it was to our ancestors years ago.
Sustainability – growing our own energy
Growing our firewood must be done sustainably. There are now many parts of the world where forests are disappearing as growing populations collect daily firewood without planting new trees. Wood is a renewable source and can be replenished by nature in a period of time that is compatible with our human use. Managed properly, forests can be a perpetual source of fuel.
Fuel efficiency – more smoke less fire
One thing to make clear at this stage is that if you are burning the right wood in the right way then there shouldn’t be much smoke. As you probably know from bonfires, a slow, wet fire produces lots of thick smoke – in the fireplace we are aiming for a quick, hot, dry burn producing very little smoke.
Another thing to bear in mind is that a smoky fire is an inefficient one – we want all the released energy to heat our home – not to go up the chimney in the form of complex particles. Carbon dioxide, the product of a clean, hot burn, is a colourless non-particulate gas, so a hot fire with minimal smoke is an efficient energy-converter with less pollution.
A chimney fire or stove fire – just like a garden bonfire will burn with less smoke and at its best when the wood is burnt correctly. Wet wood will burn inefficiently producing thick smoke, whereas dry seasoned wood will result in a hot, dry burn with little smoke.
Olus wood fuel products are seasoned and fit for burning.
