Wood-burning Appliances are using either a Fireplace, Space Heater, Fireplace Insert or a Pellet Stove. There has been a vast improvement in the efficiency of wood burning appliances and home owners in rural areas have started embracing wood burning as an alternative energy source. Wood is after all a renewable resource with basically a zero carbon impact on our environment.
Masonry Fireplaces are required to be constructed in accordance with the Ontario Building Code and CSA Standard B365. The construction of your Fireplace will have a direct affect on the Safety of You and Your Family if not in compliance. Read about Fireplace Construction and Safety.
The effect of burning wood is close to being neutral with regards to carbon. As they grow, trees remove carbon from the atmosphere. That carbon is released into the atmosphere when we burn a log. But trees are a renewable resource. The trees growing to replace the tree we burned will reclaim the carbon from the air. Besides, we can’t avoid the carbon being released into the atmosphere. Even if the tree is left to grow old, die and rot in the forest, the carbon in it will be released as it decomposes. Burning in a fireplace is a rapid form of oxidation. Rotting on a forest floor is also oxidation, just slower. Because oil and gas are used to harvest the wood, the carbon footprint isn’t entirely neutral, but it is a small part of the wood burning process.
The exact carbon footprint and the individuals environmental effect of wood burning depends very much on how it’s done. Sustainable harvested wood burned in modern fireplaces and stoves can be a positive addition to our energy mix. And don’t forget that no other way of heating your home adds as much beauty and comfort on a cold winter night as a wood burning fire.
When using a fireplace or wood stove for heat, you can, of course, cut and gather your own firewood. That not only requires a healthy amount of time, however, but also requires an initial investment of equipment like axes and saws and splitters. It also demands a working knowledge of cutting wood. Although there are a variety of measuring units, firewood is normally sold by the cord, or a fraction of a cord. The dimensions of a “standard cord” is a stack of wood piled 8 feet long, 4 feet wide and 4 feet high. You won’t get a full 128 cubic feet of firewood with a standard cord because of the airspace between the pieces of the wood; the amount of wood in such a stack will depend upon the size and straightness of the pieces, how they are split and how the wood is stacked. Because of this, the total cubic feet in a cord can vary from 70 to 90 or more cubic feet.
The cost of firewood varies according to the number of services a wood dealer furnishes — tasks such as splitting, delivering and stacking. The cost also varies in different geographical areas.
Wood Burning Appliance Information