Bad press on Woodburners
In an extract from the BBC NEWS website on 14th Jan 19 by Matt McGrath Environment correspondent he said:
‘Most people don't realise that a wood burning stove emits more particles per hour than a diesel truck’. Well, I would like to just prove that this statement is incorrect, you can see from this chart below. You can also see how much more eco-friendly a stove is compared to an open fire.
In fact, the more recent ECOdesignready models produce even less than this. He then continues to add
‘....that's because a freshly cut log of wood contains about a pint of water, and much of the heat energy is used to dry the water out, which causes the wood to smoke and smoulder, releasing air pollutants’.
Even though in this statement he is correct about the loss of heat energy in burning wet wood, he is assuming every person with a woodburner only burns wet wood, he does not mention that people with open fires are also capable of burning wet wood nor that open fires burn 3 times more fuel than a woodburner.
Therefore it’s the fuel, not the stove that is the main issue and this is where people are being misled.
The government will ban the sale of the most polluting fuels and ensure that only the cleanest stoves are available for sale by 2022.
The government's plan for fuels within the next few months are:
- Phase out the sale of traditional house coal
- Limit the sale of wet wood, the type found on garage forecourts.
You can still burn dry seasoned / kiln dried logs with 20% moisture content or less.
Over the next few weeks, I will be posting answers and facts about the issues that have appeared in the press recently about woodburners to hopefully reassure you that stoves are not being banned and are still a cleaner and more environmentally friendly way to heat your home. Also, I will be covering questions that have arisen with concerns over people with existing old woodburners.