What impact does burning wood in a home fireplace have on climate change?

Question

I notice many people using their fireplaces and buying wood to burn in fireplaces in the winter months. I am guessing this has to have some impact on the climate like fossil fuels (e.g. coal and forest fires) do. Am I correct? If so how much of an impact does it have? Links and resources to information would be greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

A summary first then a more detailed answer. If trees are felled or purposely grown to provide firewood then this is going to contribute to global warming. If the tree has died of natural causes then it would release the CO2 anyway and burning it is simply speeding up the release of the gas.

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You are correct, home fireplaces do have an impact on climate change. I'll explain a little more...

When a tree grows it sequesters carbon dioxide from the atmopshere and together with water and sunlight it photosynthesises and produces glucose and oxygen. The glucose is the food the tree needs to grow. Approximately two thirds of the mass of a tree is carbon (most of the rest is water). Here it is as an equation: 6 CO2 + 12 H2O + photons = 1 C6H12O6 + 6 O2 + 6 H2O

When a tree degrades the stored carbon is released back into the atmosphere again. In it's natural habitat trees burn, rot, die, get blown over etc where they rot and are subsequently replaced by more trees - it all forms part of a natural and balanced cycle. During it's lifetime a tree sequesters carbon dioxide, stores it then releases it when it degrades.

If a tree were to be felled and used as firewood without being replaced then it upsets the natural balance - CO2 is released but no provision is made for recapturing the lost CO2. Consequently there is a positive contribution to global warming.

The use of wind-blown or casualty timber in a home fireplace isn't so bad as ultimately, the tree would have rotted and released CO2 anyway. The biggest impact here would be the removal of the dead tree before it's had chance to rot and nourish the ground - an area which I don't know a great deal about but if you want expert information about this then Byderule would be the person to ask.

An average sized mature tree weighs 2 to 3 tons of which 1.5 to 2 tons is carbon. You would need to burn about a dozen such trees to equal the CO2 emissions equivalent to those of an average American each year.

Other answeres have mentioned black particulate matter (soot from burning the wood) - this remains in the atmopshere for a very short period of time (minutes to 2 years) and contributes to 'global dimming' - the blocking out of sunlight. This cooling effect is more than offset by the warming caused by the carbon dioxide which has an atmopsheric lifespan or residency period of 115 years.

Personally I love open fires, unfortunately here it's central heating but at one of my other houses it's all open fires. It's very remote and there's woodland and forest all around with an abundant supply of casualty timber, there's a massive woodpile and come the New Year we'll be sat round roaring open fires (hopefully with deep snow outside). All the timber we burn there is casualty timber and in addition, we've planted several hundred trees (not to be burned) which more than offset any carbon emissions.

If you have an open fire yourself my advice would be to burn casualty timber (ask the landowners permission first if removing from private land) rather than commerically grown timber. If you do have to buy in firewood then offset what you burn by planting some trees.

Answer 2

A fireplace that doesn't have an independent outside air source actually increases you heating bill if you leave you furnace on while using the fireplace. If you turn the furnace off then you may experience portions of the house that are cold.- Why? The wood needs air to burn. It takes the air from the inside the house unless you have a separate air source piped to the fireplace. That air is then replaced by outside air some of which will be heated by the furnace if it is on. Otherwise, some portion of the house will get colder. Even a hot fire place and chimney that is open after the fire is out can draft sufficient air up the chimney to replace the air in your house up to 5 times in one hour. I know this doesn't seem reasonable but if you do a carefully engineering analysis, you will see it is true.

Answer 3

Fire places are very inefficient in heating. Compared to heating oil, it also doesn't burn as clean. Wood stoves do a much better job, but still aren't fantasitcly clean burning. The number one use for wood in the entire world is for heat, and it does contribute a significant amount of CO2 and particulates... however... Wood is a renewable resource. CO2 in the atmosphere, and trees, have a direct link in the Carbon cycle. If you can manage the amount of CO2 caused by burning wood, you can also manage the absorption of carbon by securing productive forests, in turn giving you more heat. Oil is linked to the carbon cycle, indirectly, but its hardly manageable.

When you cut trees, you are creating space for new trees to take its place, and, younger trees absorb carbon more quickly than old trees. It works out pretty well... that is to say it COULD work out.

Then again could you imagine a city like Modern Day New York, if every one burned wood? I'm not sure anyone would be able to breath. Not that its easy now.

Answer 4

No you are Not Correct.
Any burning creates CO2 + particulates which eventually fall out of the atmosphere and 'fertilize' soil or water.

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Answer 5

Insignificant. Fires have been popular as long as man has been around (random forest fires even longer) but the ecosystem can more than handle it.

Answer 6

None global warming is a farce cooked up by that liberal Al Gore to make loney selling "carbon credits" what a crock.

Answer 7

It does add CO2, but also adds a lot of particulates which blocks the sunlight.