Why does everyone install wood burners knowing how terrible they are for the environment?

[Don'tcallthepolice]

Just this

My asthmatic DP wants one, really wants one, and is in denial about the environmental and health issues. We're 5 years behind schedule with our planned home renovations so I'm just hoping they go out of fashion before we get to that point.

I’m sat in front of mine!

Two years ago out boiler broke during the coldest days of they year - never again!

We get free wood ….we don’t get free gas …it’s a no brainier for us

I wonder about the Nordic countries and whether they have higher instances of cancers related to woodburning than southern European countries. The Norwegians definitely know a thing or two about woodburning!

I think a bit part of the attraction of fires is that humans have evolved to enjoy sitting around one. Apparently sitting near one lowers your blood pressure. There’s been a bunch of research into it.

The way it makes people feel probably overrides their environmental responsibility. But you can say that for an awful lot of things we do (the food we eat, the way we travel, and so on). We haven’t evolved to think very long term. It’s probably going to be what kills us off.

To keep warm in a time when man made options such as electricity is so sodding expensive it's prohibitive for many......

*big not bit!

Because i live in a 250 year old cottage in the middle of no where off mains gas. And its cheaper to heat.

my huge original inglenook fireplace would look ridiculous with a gas fire in it, and frankly wouldn’t fit easily.

just this.

The Norwegians definitely know a thing or two about woodburning!

In a country with an abundance of clean, cheap electricity. Not to mention huge reserves of natural gas.

Technically burning wood is carbon neutral. The environmental damage isn’t to cause climate change but the hazard of air pollution and its impact on human and animal health.

So wood burning is a big no in densely populated areas, but not bad in rural areas. The internal pollution isn’t a given with a wood burner as they are often fitted with filters and fans that prevent any particulates from going inside with the heat. Also if you have an open fireplace, you can ensure there is enough of a draw of air coming in from outside so that the smoke and particulates just go up the chimney. This means you can’t have an open fireplace in a draft free home though….not without having high internal air pollution.

oh and were not allowed solar panel on our land nor a wind turbine as its not aesthetically pleasing according to the council.

Never gonna stop a meat eater neither is a lot of people. Love steak too much 😋

By installing a wood burner you don’t just pollute from an environmental perspective, you actually harm your own health by doing so.

The particulates from wood burning lodge in your brain and other organs and stay there, massively increasing your risk of dementia, heart attacks, cancer and stillbirth.

Fancy sitting in a room and breathing in the exhaust fumes of 750 HGVs? No? Well don’t get a wood burner then, as that’s the equivalent.

exactly - far less damage to the environment than driving a car or turning on the central heating

Being*

I don't have a log burner but I do drive, eat meat, have kids, use some single use plastic and go on holiday on a plane every other year.

But I fill my garden with bee friendly plants, use reusable period underwear, take bags and containers with me when I'm shopping and use a refill shop, meal plan and turn my food waste into compost.

Ultimately I suppose it's a balance for me off compromises I can make and those I don't want to make and I assume people with log burners are the same. And all those tiny choices realistically mean nothing anyway on the grand scheme of things while half the world is so dependent on fossil fuels and billionaires take private jets on a daily basis.

The world is fucked because greed has us so focused on economic growth when it's clearly not viable anymore not because of log burners.

He’d be absolutely mad to do this if he has asthma.

I know it can be hard to connect the dots between something you do today and the thought of getting cancer in 20 years time or dementia in 30 or 40, but with asthma he’s likely to feel the impact straight away. Why pay thousands to make yourself ill?

I think the link between wood burning and cancer is not very well known, which is surprising as it’s boys and men that are most affected. You’d think it would be a political priority.

My best guess is that the govt don’t have a good alternative to push. When the Swedish govt were discouraging wood burning, they were offering grants to switch to clean gas central heating. (And the resulting drop in men’s cancers was noticed as whole towns switched) Now there isn’t any alternative that doesn’t have its inherent problems.

In my area it’s more about a scandi aesthetic and trendy lifestyle choices than poverty. The air quality is awful. So there’s an exodus of cars and SUVs into the hills at the weekend for hikers.

People who can afford good insulation, sealed wood burners, Xboxes and organised sports, and cars to drive to work in, don’t have to consider the effects on those who walk, cycle and play in their pollution.

Maybe people want to be warm and don’t live in a city? 🤷‍♀️ Any fumes from my house are swiftly blown out to see and there’s a couple of hundred miles between me and land.

This means you can’t have an open fireplace in a draft free home though….not without having high internal air pollution.

You can. Stoves and open fires can be vented to draw air directly from outside. Unlikely to be 100% effective with open fires, I agree.

Because they don’t care.

I wish they weren’t allowed in houses in towns/cities, villages. We have a neighbour 4 doors away from us and in the autumn/winter they have the log burner spouting out horrid smelling fumes (so much so everyone needs to shut their windows) and in the summer months they have a fire going out the back garden! Selfish people.

if you want a log burner live in the middle of nowhere with no neighbours!

How to post that you are ignorant of large parts of the country's infrastructure in one sentence.

I don't have gas and no rear access for an oil tank. How would you suggest I hear my home?

Although I do agree that for urban areas with gas there isn't much need.

Fancy sitting in a room and breathing in the exhaust fumes of 750 HGVs? No? Well don’t get a wood burner then, as that’s the equivalent

Have you ever been in an a room with a lit wood burning stove, or stood next to the exhaust pipe of just one lorry?

I agree. They look and feel so lovely and cosy that when people are confronted with the cold hard facts of evidence, they just don’t want to hear they’re massively increasing their risk of cancer, heart disease or dementia.

They don’t want to give up their pleasure, so they deal with the dissonance by tuning out or dismissing the evidence they don’t want to see and stubbornly cling to the belief they already had, in the teeth of all evidence to the contrary.