Is burning wood a good way to heat a home?

Question

I was just wondering, at 45 bucks a rank (and more in the city), aren't more people running out and cutting down good green trees to make money selling wood? Not many trees are being planted to replace the ones being cut down. is this good for the environment?

Answer 1

A wood burning stove/fireplace can be a great way to heat your home or supplament your current heating.  Choose wood that has already fallen, never cut down a living tree.

Answer 2

excellent question,  but it depends on what you mean by good.

cheapest? most efficient? most available? easiest? most enviromentally friendly?

unless you specify to which of these you refer, i can only give you the answer that says yes to all of the above: THE SUN.

Answer 3

use wood to heat your home, but plant some more trees to replace the ones you use and to soak up the co2 you create

Answer 4

HOW LONG IT LASTS, THE WOODS?

Answer 5

Depends on if you can afford electricity  or not. Depends on the size of the house. Depends on alot of things. No, people are not running out and cutting green trees for firewood. Green trees don't burn!!!! If wood doesn't burn,you can't sell it. duh!!! If you cut one- plant two, is the general rule. You are making a mountain out of a molehill with your question.

Answer 6

i don't know about heating a home but i know it is bad for enviroment

Answer 7

For our home, it's a great way. It's a small house, with the wood stove centrally located. A couple of the local landscapers keep us pretty well supplied, most years and I keep an eye open for "sidewalk wood". The landscaper doesn't have to travel to the landfill to drop off the wood; the landfill fills more slowly; I don't have to pay for fuel (just a bit of electricity and gasoline for my chain saws); and I don't have to go to the gym to get my exercise. The burning wood does give off carbon dioxide but letting the wood rot would result in the same amount. The ash that is left over sweetens my lawn and garden plots. I managed to get certificates of appreciation presented to a couple of my suppliers from the township's environmental advisory group.

Answer 8

my neighbor down the street dont really buy his wood.  he goes around with his truck and picks up the wood people put next to the road when they chop down their trees.  somehow the Lord has been good to him and he seems to get enough for each winter.  only once or twice did i see him buy a rank of wood.  so i say he is helping buy cleaning up others peoples version of trash.  and when i had two dead trees taken down on my property he came and got wood along with 3 other familys.  i helped people heat their homes.  plus, i saved my house and my neighbors home from dangerous trees.

Answer 9

Depends, if you use a wood stove or fireplace (which is really really inefficient) your house will be dirty from all the dirt brought in by the logs and your indoor air will have a lot of pollution in it from the smoke (all stoves and fireplaces will at some point, pump smoke into the room). Also without fans moving the air around the room/house the heat is not even-some areas will be very hot and some quite cold.

All these problems can be fixed by using a wood furnace which sits outside the building and heats the building evenly via hot water radiant heat under the floors (and these furnaces heat all the hot water you will use for other purposes).

Now as far as heating with wood denuding forests. This could happen if all 100 million or so households used wood for heating. But currently most folks who cut wood for heating do not cut live trees as these are green and it takes 12 to 18 months to properly season green wood so it burns well (you can burn green wood but it is very very smoky and will not burn hot). Most wood used for heating is from downed trees that have been down a year or longer. What many would call waste wood.

If one had a good sized wood lot one could sustainably take dead wood from live trees for burning for decades. This is what people used to do.

Answer 10

I would suggest wearing some more clothes when it gets cooler, go to bed a little earlier as well as snuggle up with your love-one to use each others body warms.

Cutting down trees is bad due to the fact we need them to soak up the carbon dioxide that burning wood produces.

Other good ideas is to get double glazed windows as you loose alot of warmth through windows. Also insulate roof. Both of these is good also for summer to keep heat out.

Answer 11

I have used dead wood from my 10 acres to heat my home.  This wood is of 0 carbon impact to the environment, it's already dead, it's already on the ground.  Plus I get to walk through the woods with a free workout to heat my home.

Answer 12

burning wood for heating is efficient  and pleasant, but it causes serious pollution, is an inefficient process from the aspect of transporting wood, especially to urban homes and it requires replanting of equal or greater number of trees than trees that are cut for burning.

in primitive societies wood is one of the common sources of heating material, but these same societies fail to invest in replanting trees, which causes desertification and other unpleasant side effects.

Answer 13

Green trees aren't much use as fuel.They need to be dried out for at least twelve monthe to allow the sap to dry.

Otherwise,they'll smoke and spit sparks.Care should be taken in selecting the type of wood to use as fuel.Hardwood such as oak  or fuit tree wood is good.

Pine burns away too soon,elm spits,willow is unsuitable.If wood is used as an  household fuel,save the clean dry woodash,it contains potash and is an excellent garden fertilizer.

Answer 14

Burning wood also contributes to global warming. One person by themselves wouldn't be much of a problem but when millions do it, it causes considerable damage.

My family do some old fashioned things to keep warm in winter. We wear slippers, woolen hats, wrap ourselves up in blankets and use hot water bottles.

We haven't used a heater or fireplace during winter for about five years at home and when we're out and about we just dress sensibly. We do sit in the kitchen when we cook dinner because of the heat from the oven. It's good for family time together. Save the trees and some money. If it is just a little bit cold put on more clothes and cuddle your loved ones.

Answer 15

NO, NO, NO, NO, Burning wood means less trees which means less oxygen for the atmosphere. If you are to cut wood plant 2/3 time more then what you did cut to burn.

Answer 16

nope, your greenest bet are solar panels and/or wind devices.  Burning wood means less trees which means less oxygen for the atmosphere, plus the bi-product of the wood.

Answer 17

Its better for the environment than all the fumes and exhaust released form gas and electric heaters.

It's a natural occurence and has been since earths creation.

Answer 18

not at all. If it's really cold then your doing good just heating up the room that the fire place is located.

Answer 19

No.  Here in the Phoenix area, where we have serious air pollution problems, builders are no longer allowed to put wood-burning fireplaces in new houses, and there are many days when the owners of older houses with fireplaces are not allowed to burn wood.  Gas fireplaces are still allowed because they're cleaner, but a heat pump is a much more efficient way to heat a home.

Answer 20

Your propane fireplace is good only in one room. The portable kerosene heater can't be used in an enclosed space unless you provide venting for the exhaust or die of carbon monoxide poisoning. Guess that leaves the heat pump. I believe it is the cheapest form of heating and cooling that is in use today. save the trees