Is burning firewood good for the environment?

This is a popular question. The simple answer is yes, it is a renewable resource which when burnt, releases the same amount of greenhouse gasses as taken up by the tree in its life, thereby being carbon neutral. If used as a replacement for gas or oil (or electricity produced using gas, oil or coal) then it results in a net reduction in greenhouse gases.

Modern harvesting, haulage and firewood processing is all very efficient with minimal fossil fuels used in the processing.

You might argue that clear felling forests quickly will release more carbon, and be unsightly, but there are 2 clear benefits from this.

The forest being removed was probably planted post WW2. These were unsightly and unusable dense blocks of uniform forestry. All replanting plans (and every clear-fell must have a felling licence which includes contractual requirements to re-plant) have mixed species including native hardwoods and specific amenity features. This means that in the future, new forests will be far more attractive.

The second big advantage about keeping forests turning over is that younger growing trees take up far more carbon dioxide than mature trees, so can have a beneficial effect in the medium term.

The issues being discussed here have an impact on the softwood v hardwood discussion from the last email. Softwood is far more efficient in producing biomass, grows much quicker and results in a cheaper fuel.

As more and more wood burners are fitted in UK home, especially in rural areas where they are most likely replacing oil as a fuel, the need for timber will outgrow the UK hardwood production. This means that in the long term, unless you use imported timber (the nicely stacked crates you see advertised are all Eastern European imports) we must adopt softwood for a good proportion of our fuel.

As previously discussed, as far as the smoke produced from wood burners, it is good practice to always purchase a stove suitable for smokeless zones, even if you are not in one. The reason is that these burners have smoke recycling/reburning facilities, which leaves a far cleaner exhaust smoke and lower overall emissions. This is better for both your local environment and your flue, necessitating less cleaning.

I hope these answers some of your questions on the ecological profile of wood burning.