[Lmnre]

Is a wood stove environmentally friendly?

I suspect there are environmentally friendly and unfriendly aspects to just about everything. Perhaps the question is better posed as:

To what extent, or in what ways, is a wood stove environmentally friendly?

[Geezer]

My design would be to cool the exhaust to room temperature, and use forced air input for drafting.  It would require a sealed firebox.  I'm not sure about the creosote problem.

Some gas fires with horizontal flues have air drawn out by an electric-fan, so it is workable.  And having a fan running would save having to ensure heat was left in the flue gases for draw. Wood creosotes are not going to do an electric fan any good but a vacuum is preferable to pushing cold air in through the fire, especially the need to load more wood.

I think a good way to go is to use a boiler of some sort and transfer the heat into a large mass of something (water for example) that can be used for space heating when needed.

That allows you to optimize the combustion process to minimize air pollution, and probably extract more thermal energy. The downside is that you need a large amount of something to store the heat, and heat exchangers etc., so the whole thing gets to be capital intensive.

[peppercorn]

I think a good way to go is to use a boiler of some sort and transfer the heat into a large mass of something (water for example) that can be used for space heating when needed.

That allows you to optimize the combustion process to minimize air pollution, and probably extract more thermal energy. The downside is that you need a large amount of something to store the heat, and heat exchangers etc., so the whole thing gets to be capital intensive.

You forgot to add a pump to transfer your hot water around to where it's needed; unless you already have a handy central heating system to tie it in with

I think the heat exchanger is the right idea though, only an air-to-air one.  You design your stove to have enough draw for the worst case - ie. down draft on the chimney, damp cold inlet air, etc.  Then you give the inlet a progressively more convoluted route  into the hearth via a staged heat exchanger around the flue pipe so that inlet air is always as hot as possible without taking so much velocity out of the exhaust that the draw collapses.

Only have to add a (admittedly more complex) heat exchanger with no need for e-fans, pumps, water tank or integration with other systems.

[Geezer]

You forgot to add a pump to transfer your hot water around to where it's needed; unless you already have a handy central heating system to tie it in with

No pump required. In the olden days, central heating systems used gravity circulation.

[Geezer]

I think the heat exchanger is the right idea though, only an air-to-air one.  You design your stove to have enough draw for the worst case - ie. down draft on the chimney, damp cold inlet air, etc.  Then you give the inlet a progressively more convoluted route  into the hearth via a staged heat exchanger around the flue pipe so that inlet air is always as hot as possible without taking so much velocity out of the exhaust that the draw collapses.

Only have to add a (admittedly more complex) heat exchanger with no need for e-fans, pumps, water tank or integration with other systems.

But wait! There's more!

See, the problem is the size of the firebox is optimized for a particular mass of fuel and the rate of combustion should be optimized to minimize pollution, so you tend to get too much heat rather than the desired amount. That's why you really want to store the heat so you can tap into it when you actually need it.

I suppose you could avoid that by having several small furnaces, but that might be a bit of a pain!

[peppercorn]

I suppose you could avoid that by having several small furnaces, but that might be a bit of a pain!

Digital furnaces! []


I was under the impression a radiative stove (painted with stove black, say) wants to be as hot as the iron will stand (discounting any safety concerns), so hot water (at 99degC say!) is too cool to help with continued good combustion temperatures.

[CliffordK]

One can keep the firebox hot.
The idea was to use the water to recover heat from the flue.  One just has to deal with creosote and drafting.

[Geezer]

I was under the impression a radiative stove (painted with stove black, say) wants to be as hot as the iron will stand (discounting any safety concerns), so hot water (at 99degC say!) is too cool to help with continued good combustion temperatures.

I don't think so. In olden times we had things called steam locomotives with a great big water filled firebox. Mind you, the water was under pressure, so its boiling point was elevated quite a bit.

[CliffordK]

Did anybody ever figure out whether black or silver radiates more energy?

I'm not sure one really needs to paint it black.

[Jennie]

No, wood burning is NOT environmentally friendly!

Woodsmoke Pollution and Your Health

Wood Smoke particulates are as bad as Diesel particulates.
newbielink:http://rawsep.wordpress.com/2011/03/03/2011-march-2-next-big-future-air-pollution-deaths-similar-to-world-war-2-military-deaths-each-year/ [nonactive]

wood smoke -- deadlier than tobacco smoke!
newbielink:http://blogforcleanair.blogspot.se/2011/05/guest-posting-wood-smoke-deadlier-than.html [nonactive]

Natural, Yes, But Wood Smoke is Toxic, Too
newbielink:http://www.fairwarning.org/2010/06/natural-yes-but-wood-smoke-is-toxic-too/ [nonactive]

Where There's Smoke, There's Sickness: Wood Smoke now a major Northwest air polluter
newbielink:http://www.invw.org/content/where-theres-smoke-theres-sickness-wood-smoke-now-a-major-northwest-air-polluter [nonactive]

Health Impact of Wood Smoke
newbielink:http://www.lungfoundation.com.au/lung-information/patient-educational-material/fact-sheets/100 [nonactive]

Predominant wood (fuel) users in North America and Europe had a 21% higher risk of lung cancer.
newbielink:http://woodburnersmoke.net/ [nonactive]

Air Pollution Linked to Breast Cancer
newbielink:http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101006104003.htm [nonactive]

wood smoke may be an underestimated risk factor for COPD in Europe in general
newbielink:http://www.ersj.org.uk/content/27/3/446.full [nonactive]

The impact of wood smoke on children, neighborhoods
newbielink:http://breathehealthyair.blogspot.se/2010/05/impact-of-wood-smoke-on-children.html [nonactive]

TV show informs about the health dangers of wood smoke
newbielink:http://www.kingcounty.gov/healthservices/health/news/2004/04020201.aspx [nonactive]

Smoky air can harm dogs and cats, too, says vets and pollution experts
newbielink:http://junkscience.com/2012/02/08/smoky-air-can-harm-dogs-and-cats-too-says-vets-and-pollution-experts/ [nonactive]

The U.S. EPA estimates the cancer risk from wood smoke is twelve times greater than that from equal amounts of tobacco smoke. Wood burning also creates dioxins
newbielink:http://burningissues.org/smoke.htm [nonactive]

Much of outdoor formaldehyde and acrolein releases in Oregon comes from burning wood.
newbielink:http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2011/03/car_and_truck_exhaust_wood_smo.html [nonactive]

Wood smoke major source of pollution in winter
newbielink:http://www.european-lung-foundation.org/6643-wood-smoke-major-source-of-pollution-in-winter.htm [nonactive]

American Lung Association of California is urging the public to avoid wood burning
newbielink:http://woodsmokenuisance.wordpress.com/2010/01/30/2010-jan-28-ca-belmont-american-lung-association-says-wood-smoke-pollution-hazardous-to-health/ [nonactive]

Wood burning banned in Bay Area on Christmas Eve
newbielink:http://www.dailycal.org/2011/12/23/wood-burning-banned-in-bay-area-on-christmas-eve/ [nonactive]

Intertek Study funded by Environment Canada, 2002 proves Dioxin Furans Increased 400% in Certified Stoves
newbielink:http://www.citizensfeh.com/homepage.html [nonactive]

90 Scientists Urge Congress Not to 'Cook the Books' in CO2 Accounting for Biofuels, Other Bioenergy Sources
newbielink:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/90-scientists-urge-congress-not-to-cook-the-books-in-co2-accounting-for-biofuels-other-bioenergy-sources-94741714.html [nonactive]

Al Gore calls on world to burn less wood and fuel to curb 'black carbon'
newbielink:http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/apr/28/black-carbon-emissions/print [nonactive]

Global Warming and Atmospheric Brown Clouds

   
Climate Thinkers - Prof V. Ramanathan, Scripps Institution of Oceanography

newbielink:http://www.burningissues.org [nonactive]
newbielink:http://www.citizensfeh.com [nonactive]
newbielink:http://woodburnersmoke.net/ [nonactive]

[Geezer]

Well, yes, wood smoke can be very nasty stuff, but at least burning wood does not permanently alter the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, or leave a lot of atomic waste for future generations to deal with.

[CliffordK]

A lot depends on weather patterns, population density, and how clean the wood stoves burn.  So what is appropriate for one community may not be appropriate for another.

Some of the worst wood burning pollution in Oregon is in a small logging community, Oakridge, where you can imagine just about everyone burns wood in the winter. 

However, significant improvements can be made by using an catalytic wood stove, or some kind of a hot air injection system such as the quadrafire. 

Wood stoves, and stove inserts, are much more efficient than fireplaces.  But, it will just take time to slowly replace all the older non-compliant stoves with the newer models.

Even on the worst days, communities such as Oakridge aren't as bad as many of the big metro areas such as St. Louis or LA were regularly in the past, especially when they used to have individual coal furnaces.  And, many of the very smelly factories around the country have been cleaned up (or sent to China).

I still think one could build a water bath chimney that would be both extremely efficient for energy capture as well as extremely low emissions.  But, we aren't there yet.

[kowalskil]

If you happened to live in a valley then it would not be too healthy to you, your friends and family.

Is burning coal less harmful than burning wood? Probably not.

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