Get cosy with eco-friendly fireplaces

New generation of wood-burning appliances
Wood is a renewable resource as long as forestry harvesting does not exceed forestry growth. As a fuel, wood is ecofriendly only if used in conjunction with a high-efficiency appliance or stove certified by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or CSA International. Certified units are designed to reduce emissions of particle pollutants to a minimum both inside and outside the home.

According to Environment Canada, clean combustion technology reduces pollution to a level varying between two grams and five  grams per hour (or 0.8 grams for the most effective units), compared to 25 grams to 50 grams for non-certified units. In other words, in a span of just nine hours on average the traditional wood stove will send the same amount of particles into the atmosphere as an ecocertified model does in 60 hours. Wood, however, does not contribute to global warming in the same way that a fossil fuel like gasoline does. According to Environment Canada, burning wood only emits the same amount of carbon dioxide – a greenhouse gas – as wood left to decompose in the forest does.

As well, EPA-certified units offer an average wood-burning efficiency of 68 percent (up to 90 percent for the top models). compared to 54 percent for non-certified traditional models. Higher energy efficiency helps to reduce wood consumption by 25 percent to 33 percent, as well as heating costs, forestry harvest, greenhouse gases and pollution in general.

Advanced combustion versus catalytic combustion
There are two categories of high-efficiency wood stoves: those that use advanced combustion and those that use catalytic combustion. Advanced combustion appliances feature a second combustion chamber where pollutants are burned. With catalytic stoves, combustion gases are sent to a catalytic filter, where the pollutants are destroyed. While catalytic stoves are more effective and eco-friendly than advanced combustion models, they’re also more expensive, since the catalyzer needs to be replaced every two years at a cost of roughly $400 each time.