4 ms·

Burning wood is also CO2 neutral as the forest has captured this CO2 in the last few decades compared to fossil fuel that is accumulated over many millions of y

by tyfon 9y ago

Burning wood is also CO2 neutral as the forest has captured this CO2 in the last few decades compared to fossil fuel that is accumulated over many millions of years. In Norway you actually get a higher (greener) energy rating for your house if you have a wood stove, and our electrical power almost entirely hydroelectric. The article doesn't say, but the wood pollution is relatively minor compared to diesel etc. This Greenpeace article[1] doesn't even mention wood. [1] https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2016/11/03/causes-londons-air-pollution/ https://unearthed.greenpeace.org/2016/11/03/causes-londons-a...

varjag 9y ago
> In Norway you actually get a higher (greener) energy rating for your house if you have a wood stove, and our electrical power almost entirely hydroelectric. You can possibly get a higher rating when you replace an old stove or an oil stove (parafinbrenner/oljekamin) with "clean-burning" stove, or do I miss something? Otherwise the rating depends on how tight the house is insulated, does it have balanced ventilation and so on. And CO2-neutral sounds a bit hand-wavy tbh. Sure forest captured it only recently, but there's no advantage releasing it back to atmosphere.
- Spooky23 9y ago
  The issue with wood in urban areas isn’t CO2, it’s the particulate pollution.
- tyfon 9y ago
  Yes, but if you have electric only and install a "peis" your rating is increased. There are better options regarding particular pollution like the pellet burning oven, but you do get higher rating from wood alone. The CO2 part is not hand-wavy, unless you clear-cut the forest and do not let it grow back. Unfortunately that is what is happening in the rain forests of the Americas.
Retric 9y ago
You need to harvest and transport that wood, so it's not CO2 neutral. PS: Gas also takes a lot of energy to refine and transport so it's worse than the direct CO2 produced during combustion.
- tyfon 9y ago
  I think it's very dependent on where you live. The way we do it is to walk into the forest with the axe or chainsaw (often electric) and cut down a tree. After that we drag it home and chop it up with an axe using muscle power ;) There are even books[1] about firewood and how to stack it so it's very ingrained in the culture. But if it's done industrially with machines then you are very correct. [1] https://www.bokklubben.no/livsstil-hobby-og-fritid/hel-ved-lars-mytting/produkt.do?produktId=5941256 https://www.bokklubben.no/livsstil-hobby-og-fritid/hel-ved-l...
  - Retric 9y ago
    Sure, but London is not really known for it's forests.
  - derobert 9y ago
    Which means you burn more calories, so eat more food, which has to be grown — and farming uses fuel too (and transporting, storing, & selling that food, and cooking it, and...) Calculating the full, e.g., carbon cost of a fuel is difficult!

by tyfon 9y ago

varjag 9y ago

> In Norway you actually get a higher (greener) energy rating for your house if you have a wood stove, and our electrical power almost entirely hydroelectric. You can possibly get a higher rating when you replace an old stove or an oil stove (parafinbrenner/oljekamin) with "clean-burning" stove, or do I miss something? Otherwise the rating depends on how tight the house is insulated, does it have balanced ventilation and so on. And CO2-neutral sounds a bit hand-wavy tbh. Sure forest captured it only recently, but there's no advantage releasing it back to atmosphere.

Spooky23 9y ago
The issue with wood in urban areas isn’t CO2, it’s the particulate pollution.
tyfon 9y ago
Yes, but if you have electric only and install a "peis" your rating is increased. There are better options regarding particular pollution like the pellet burning oven, but you do get higher rating from wood alone. The CO2 part is not hand-wavy, unless you clear-cut the forest and do not let it grow back. Unfortunately that is what is happening in the rain forests of the Americas.

Retric 9y ago

You need to harvest and transport that wood, so it's not CO2 neutral. PS: Gas also takes a lot of energy to refine and transport so it's worse than the direct CO2 produced during combustion.

tyfon 9y ago
I think it's very dependent on where you live. The way we do it is to walk into the forest with the axe or chainsaw (often electric) and cut down a tree. After that we drag it home and chop it up with an axe using muscle power ;) There are even books[1] about firewood and how to stack it so it's very ingrained in the culture. But if it's done industrially with machines then you are very correct. [1] https://www.bokklubben.no/livsstil-hobby-og-fritid/hel-ved-lars-mytting/produkt.do?produktId=5941256 https://www.bokklubben.no/livsstil-hobby-og-fritid/hel-ved-l...
- Retric 9y ago
  Sure, but London is not really known for it's forests.
- derobert 9y ago
  Which means you burn more calories, so eat more food, which has to be grown — and farming uses fuel too (and transporting, storing, & selling that food, and cooking it, and...) Calculating the full, e.g., carbon cost of a fuel is difficult!