Wood burners - fossil free fires for a future

Today sees another global climate strike so we are proud to be part of the solution in this revolution and promote fossil free fires.

In August 2018, at 15 years of age, Greta Thunberg took time off school to demonstrate outside the Swedish parliament, holding up a sign calling for stronger climate action. Soon, other students engaged in similar protests in their own communities. Together they organized a school climate strike movement, under the name Fridays for Future. After Thunberg addressed the 2018 United Nations Climate Change Conference, student strikes took place every week somewhere in the world. In 2019, there were at least two coordinated multi-city protests involving over one million pupils each. Today sees another of those global strikes.

Protecting the environment has become a major issue which has become increasingly hard to ignore. The need to find renewable energy sources and sustainable ways of living have never been more important and, when it comes to heating, this concern is no different.

Log burning stoves are far more eco-friendly than gas or electric heaters, due to the fuel itself. Wood is a carbon-neutral fuel which means it does not produce more carbon dioxide (CO2) than is already present in the carbon cycle. Any CO2 that is produced by burning wood is simply reabsorbed by plants and trees and converted back into oxygen or stored as CO2 in the plant.

However, fossil fuels produce far more CO2 when burned and increase the amount presently current within the carbon cycle, the condensed carbon having been locked inside them for millions of years and being released into the atmosphere. Therefore, fossil fuels are not carbon neutral and can harm the environment in a way burning wood could never match.

Whilst more sustainable and eco-friendlier than fossil fuels, burning wood emits small amounts of particle matter (PM2.5). 70% of wood burnt in cities is used for open fires which produce far more emissions than their stove counterparts and are far less efficient. In contrast, most EcoDesign Ready stoves can reduce emissions by up to 90% when compared to open fires and make the most out of the fuel they burn. Furthermore, levels of PM2.5 are increasingly being cut by these modern stoves, with many of the factors contributing to their EcoDesign Ready status originating in their ability to reduce particle matter production, and hence air pollution.

We only sell EcoDesign Ready stoves so to find out more contact us at The Fire Engine on 01237 420904.