Country Life
WOOD FUEL - GREEN GOOD OR PARTICULATE POISON ?
By Sam Biles , Managing Director of country Estate Agents Biles & Co
Sam Biles takes a look at our most traditional fuel source .
Environment Secretary Michael Gove has recently unveiled the Government ’ s latest Clean Air Strategy , which targets a range of pollution sources including woodburning stoves and ammonia emissions from farming , amongst others . The levels of particulates produced by wood-burning stoves are deemed to be a danger to public health , and this is particularly so if the source of fuel is unseasoned wood with a high moisture content as this produces a greater number of particulates . The danger of particulates is understood to be that they are carcinogens and that they exacerbate some lung conditions and may cause others . The reduction of coal as a fuel source has already reduced particulates from that source , and regulations are being tightened up on diesel vehicles - another source of polluting particulates . This is perhaps ironic as it is not that long ago that diesel cars , with a higher fuel efficiency in terms of mpg , were thought to be the green alternative over petrol . Wood from sustainable sources has been widely regarded as a good and carbon-neutral fuel . How can this be so , when burning wood obviously releases carbon in the forms of CO2 and CEO into the atmosphere ? It is because wood traps carbon as it grows , and whilst this is released when it is burned , if the source is sustainable , then replacement wood is growing and absorbing that carbon or the equivalent , thus making the whole process carbon-neutral . So that ’ s a good thing ? Well it would seem not . The dangers posed by particulates – and in particular from burning wet wood - appear to be more worrying to the government than the benefits of using this carbonneutral fuel . The trouble with these sorts of issues is that they are complex and grey rather than black-andwhite . Nothing is completely good and nothing is completely bad - though to read it in the media you would think so . The whole thing is a balancing act . No doubt if everyone warmed their houses with wood-burning stoves burning wet wood , then there would be a very significant problem . However a mix of fuel sources - gas , electricity , heat pumps , oil and wood , together with
restrictions in certain areas may be a sensible way forward . Obviously a polluting stove in an inner city is going to cause far more issues than the odd damp log being used on the Isle of Wight , where the air is so much cleaner and particulates less of a problem . The deaths and disease caused by the infamous smogs – those socalled pea-soupers which plagued London in the early 20th century - are well-recorded and with the advances in medical science we know much more about the science of health and the potential problems from particulates . I just hope the Government acts with balance . If a knee-jerk reaction ends the use of wood as a domestic fuel after millennia it would be greatly missed . A family sitting together around a warming fire is an age-old part of human culture - and it is green and sustainable too ...
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