Carbon Footprint Wood Pellets Vs. Wood

"Carbon-footprint" is defined by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as "a measure of the greenhouse gases that are produced by activities of a person, a family, a school or a business that involve burning fossil fuels." This includes the impact of all aspects of processing, as well as the burning of them.

Wood pellets

• Wood pellets burn cleaner than wood logs.

  Wood pellets are clean burning and are considered "carbon-neutra.l" meaning the processing and burning of them emits no more greenhouse gases than they helped to remove in their past lives as living trees and plants. Wood pellets are becoming popular as an alternative heating fuel.

Wood Logs

• Wood logs are considered "carbon-neutral".

  Wood logs generally burn somewhat dirtier than wood pellets, though some modern, EPA-certified wood burning stoves are capable of re-burning many of the gases that once went out the chimney. Wood log burning in an efficient stove is also considered carbon-neutral, since even the natural degradation of trees releases equivalent levels of greenhouse gases.

Considerations

• Wood pellet equipment requires power to operate; wood log equipment does not (generally).

  Some things to think about: The equipment needed to feed the pellets into the fire-box and to blow air on the burning pellets on pellet burning stoves or furnaces requires electrical power; meaning if power is lost, so is the wood pellet heating.

  Burning wood logs is effective even if electric power is lost, in most cases (some wood log burning furnaces may require electric power to operate). Wood logs offer a definite ambiance that wood pellets do not.