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

[Don'tcallthepolice]

Just this

Open fireplaces need a ground level positive air flow to prevent particulates from going into the room. A vent isn’t going to do anything except vent particulates after they have gone into the room and risen upwards.

Stoves are a type of wood burner and as I said before, many are designed with filters and fans to prevent particulates from going to the room.

Having sat down this weekend and worked put my gas is costing £600 a month and barely heating the house to 14⁰ I am going to use the burner more. It warms up the room its in much better than central heating which doesn't seem to penetrate the damp walls. We insulate as much as possible but there's a limit to what we can do in an old house. I see it as a renewable source and am not concerned by the noted health risks, fires were used for generations and I'm more bothered about walking my kids to school down a road with cars who idle in places they shouldn't be parked, drive on the pavement to make sure their children don't need to walk more than 15m even though they live a 5min walk away and clearly don't care about the pollution that causes to those of us who have to walk through the fug.

For some in rural areas they may be the main source of heating, or be the most affordable if someone has access to free wood. I think, OP, you are referring to the instagram/FB types who install them in their perfectly well (gas) heated modern suburban homes where they are completely unneccessary and can cause problems to others in densely packed areas.

plastics
covid brought disposable plastics to a new level

Very hard to reconcile the feeling the log burner gives us with the data that shows this, isn’t it?!

We’re not aware of particulates as we breathe them in, but they’re silently circulating around our bodies, lodging in organs and causing damage and misery. So when we see the evidence, it can be hard to believe it when set against that lovely cosy feeling from the fire. It’s true though. These lovely cosy fires are terrible for our health.

This gives you more info on the comparison with the HGV emissions.

www.cleanairhub.org.uk/clean-air-information/the-basic-information/wood-burners

There are plenty of things which people do which various research shows is bad for us (eating meat, eating non organic food, new car interiors, chemical sun creams, new carpets/flooring, air fresheners, paints, flying, smoking, vaping, alcohol, cosmetics, hair treatments, nail varnish, UV rays from nail lamps, fire retardants on newer furniture……..etc). The list is endless. Worrying about everything will cause anxiety and mental health issues, the damage from which will be arguably worse.

Oh, and gas cookers are also bad apparently (worse than living in a polluted city). They also give off particulates.

www.independent.co.uk/news/health/pollution-gas-stove-cooking-b2266571.html?amp

I think people conflate two issues when it comes to woodburners. One is climate change/ CO2 emissions. Wood is, literally, green in this respect, as it is a sustainable source of fuel.

The other is particulate emissions and their effect on health. Wood has been found to be extremely bad in this respect, particularly bad in built up areas.

I would say the takeaway from this would be: It's OK to use wood for fuel in rural, ideally windy areas (especially given that the other option in some of these places is heating oil 😬) , but it isn't in urban areas.

Because it's trendy and looks good on the gram.

If there wasn't an issue with our chimney we would have installed a masonry heater last autumn. You don't open them to refuel (you heat them once, and then the stone built around it retains and releases the heat slowly over the day/night) so no releasing harmful particles, and as a bonus you can cook casseroles and such like in the warming oven above, saving more energy.

A previous house I lived in we would have been absolutely screwed if we didn't have various wood burning stoves that winter as we had a 5 day power cut, in -20 degrees weather. The stoves provided warmth, allowed us to cook, and heated water in the cauldron.

This is something we do which many of us have good alternatives for though (excepting the tiny proportion of the population who genuinely have logistical issues getting other forms of heating).

An easy one to solve, if we’re happy to forego the hygge Living Etc aesthetic the wood burner brings.

I think it’s probably worse for your lungs to live in a city than have a wood burner in your living room. Most rural properties use wood fires to heat them. There is no mains gas and oil can be £100s pcm. What alternative do you suggest?

Some are people desperate to keep themselves and particularly their families warm and are finding they can't now do that with gas and electric and think this might be an answer.
I see that desperation reflected in the huge swell of posts asking 'how much does it cost to install one' and 'I bought this off ebay, how can I get it fitted'.
These people are not middle classes burning seasoned kiln dried logs but people who burn anything and everything "I won't let my kids go cold".
It's the here and now that matters

Electricity (heat pump) is the ideal solution in these cases.
admittedly an expensive undertaking but one we are doing

Yes, this is spot on.

It’s the health impacts that are most worrying. But it seems that most people are currently unaware of them and often in denial when they’re pointed out.

It’s the completely non-essential use in urban areas that’s the most pernicious issue.

But I do think the health of those living rurally needs to be considered, nobody should have to live with the health risks of wood burning because of a lack of basic infrastructure.

Because there is a war in Ukraine driving energy prices up to unprecedented levels.

@Don'tcallthepolice

There are sustainable alternatives to wood for the wood burner, dried coffee grounds formed into bricks/logs are now available and seem like a good option. They didn't throw out the same particulates as burning wood.

apologies if I’m repeating other comments, haven’t read the whole thread
If you live in the country with lots of trees they soak up anything that is damaging
This is far far better than using gas or electric
We would prefer ground source heat pumps but we’re told they would be useless on our house, so opted for burners

Also
All burners on the market now are of a standard that as long as burn a certain type of fuel ( it’s on all councils websites ) they no longer pump out noxious gases.

We re in the country, lots of tress.

Totally agree.

All of the things in my list have alternatives. There’s a balance between being sensible and living healthily and happily. I’m afraid I take a lot of this “research” with a big pinch of salt and will trust my own common sense.

There’s plenty of “research” which the so-called “experts” have changed their mind on.

Ps.
i meant to say you can use burners in some urban areas, even Watford, which is highly built up
As they’re so efficient now

They should be banned in any built up area, including small towns & villages. Our neighbours clearly burn any & all kinds of crap in theirs, it stinks. We bought an air purifier to deal with it as the smoke infiltrates our (and surely others’) home. People cannot be trusted to follow the rules around what to burn, especially as properly dried wood costs, versus burning wood you collect, or leftover from building work, or whatever.

If you are in the countryside, genuinely miles from anyone else, then go ahead, but it should be tightly regulated & enforced.

In the city? Because it looks nice (which it does).

Even George monbiot took ages to admit it wasn't a good choice.

If any govt at all in any of the developed countries gave a monkey's about the environment they'd be investing in renewable energy - not just for us in the West but for ALL countries.

Countries like China, India, the developing African nations have a huge carbon footprint - it dwarfs ours in the UK. These people are very largely p*ss-poor. Their children are malnourished to the extent that many of them die of starvation, or diseases related to it. They are all frantically developing their economies - and why shouldn't they? Why should they be expected to watch their babies die while we in the West have (largely) a lifestyle that seems beyond their wildest dreams and are still demanding more and more, expecting them to work as slaves within their own economies to fuel our demand for cheap clothing and food? Of course they want to develop their economies which will add even more to global warming.

As a parent, I can tell you now that if I had a choice of a good life for my kids, or propping up rich western lifestyles and the world burning in 50 years time if nothing is done, I'd take the risk and burn the world! I'd be thinking "Bugger them! They're not using me and my children as stepping stones to an even bigger car/ house/ holiday".

Unless we develop the technology - and SHARE it, not try to cream ridiculous profits off it - then we're all doomed anyway.

I don't understand why people can't see anecdote isn't data.

Yes, we’ve had enough of experts, haven’t we?

Let’s just trust our own ‘common sense’ and feelings. And not pay attention to evidence or those that actually know what they’re talking about. That always goes so well.