by Marissa Clijsters
If asked to think of an efficient and ecologically beneficial heating technology for the 21st Century, odds are that you would not name the wood burning stove as a candidate. With good reason, since this is a device that, on the face of it, has not varied much since its inception two hundred years back.
But scratch the traditional looking surface (whose purpose is to deliberately convey an old world look) and the modern wood burning stove boasts combustion efficiency close to what a conventional gas boiler can manage. These under the cover improvements have of course been driven by the need comply with ever tougher standards.
But even so, many people balk at the idea of burning wood. After all it involves chopping down a tree and setting light to it, which obviously sends carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But in fact burning logs, if done properly, is almost totally carbon neutral.
Obviously in order for wood to function as a genuinely renewable resource it is vital to systematically replant trees logged for fuel. Not only does each tree soak up the same CO2 as it will emit when burned, but you in fact need many years worth of trees all growing simultaneously as only the oldest are of any use.
In simple terms, this represents a balanced, neutral cycle of carbon dioxide capture and release. Completely the opposite of what happens with fossils fuels where the CO2 flow is one way only.
Now unless you’ve been living in cave, you’ll be aware that anything that helps to slow, halt or reverse CO2 pollution is increasingly important both and into the foreseeable future. A proven, effective and sustainable source of energy that at the very least doesn’t make matters worse is going to appear pretty dammed attractive.
You can already see how wood burning is shaping up for a comfortable future in both the number of people adopting it as either a primary of supplemental source of heating, and the shift in regulations to encourage it.
Being as it is also relatively cheap to run compared to typical gas and oil systems, wood burning clearly has significant appeal to those people able to apply it. It is not however any kind of magic pill for the many problems of the world. But the benefits are such that it has definitely booked its place among the technologies of the future.
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If you found this interesting then be sure to check out these additional articles to find out much more about the modern log burner and wood burners in general
