Celebrating the Real Wood Fire ..... A real wood fire on the hearth
represents a piece of the sun that was stored in the heart of the earth's ecosystem.

When you warm up your life with wood, you participate in a natural cycle and an ancient human ritual. The simple act of stirring coals and placing logs on the hearth is one we share with ancestors who lived at the dawn of human history. Burning wood for warmth is still satisfying. It takes a little concerted extra effort and know how, but like tending a garden or home cooking a meal, you are always rewarded. A real wood fire satisfies the way no imitation can. Each fire is unique, following its random path from lit kindling to dramatic flames to red coals. Gazing into the fire in a quiet moment, your imagination is free to soar on flights of fancy or to probe the depths of the soul.

"FEEL GOOD CHOOSE WOOD"

"Understanding Wood Heat"

Solar power from the sun, wind power, and wood energy are renewable resources, meaning they can be used forever without depleting the earth. Using them is like living off the interest earned by the earth's assets, and never touching its savings. In contrast, fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal are not renewable and their consumption is the leading cause of global warming. Burning fossil fuels sends carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, on a one-way trip. It pumps million-year-old carbon from inside the earth into the atmosphere, where the concentration of carbon dioxide is increasing.

An Old Technology Renewed

Some may view a woodstove or fireplace as old-fashioned, but that image is out of date. Things have changed a lot. Innovative research has tranformed the trusty old wood heater from a clunky black box into a marvel of modern heating technology. Yet none of the charm and beauty of the natural fire has been lost. An advanced technology stove or fireplace won't pollute your indoor air and you'll see no smoke coming from your chimney. It can deliver up to 75 percent seasonal efficiency while emitting 90 percent less smoke than the old "airtight. This means you will need about one third less wood for the same amount of heat. The new technologies raise the temperature of the fire, making it more beautiful than ever and keeping the fire-viewing glass clear. Now you can enjoy the pleasures of a real wood fire and cast your vote in favor of the environment at the same time.
Modern woodburning appliances are a perfect match for new energy-efficient houses. A centrally-located woodstove or masonry heater can fully heat a home of moderate size, and for larger homes, the heat from an elegant new fireplace can be ducted to all areas. No more chilly rooms. And no more getting up in the night to feed the fire, all the advanced models deliver a reliable over-night burn.

Home Security

When all else fails, you can count on a real wood fire. Without heat, an emergency becomes a disaster, but with a reliable wood heater and a few candles, you'll turn it into a family adventure. When storms rage and the power lines go down, your family will be warm, cozy and safe around the real wood fire. Some other advantages of wood heating are not so obvious. Like freedom from dependence on large energy utilities. Like the satisfaction of providing for one's family directly, instead of just sending off a utility payment each month. Like becoming ever more skillful at kindiing and tending the fire. Like sitting back, putting your feet up and admiring your handiwork.

Modern woodburners are safety tested. When properly installed, used and maintained, they are as safe as any other heating system. They must, of course, be paired with a sound chimney of the correct size, which is professionally evaluated and cleaned yearly.

Don't waste wood.

In cold weather, the fire in a conventional open woodburning fireplace often consumes more energy than it delivers to the house, so an oil or gas furnace has to work harder. This is a waste of both wood and fossil fuel. An advanced wood-heat system saves a lot of both. (An open fireplace draws air from your home as it burns this depletes air heat and oxygen in your home and is the most inefficent fire you can have.)

Properly seasoned firewood provides more heat and less smoke. No wood fire should emit more than a very small amount of smoke. In fact, a lot of smoke coming from a chimney is embarrassing proof of the operator's lack of awareness or experience. Ask your local professional Chimney Sweep or folks at the local hearth shop to show you how to build a "top-burn" fire, a proven way to make wood burn more cleanly/efficiently.

Don't guess about safety. It's smart to hire an experienced professional to install and maintain your woodburning system for you. Feeling at ease is part of the pleasure of woodburning.

If you don't cut your own fuel, ask your firewood supplier where the wood came from. Make it known you only want wood from sustainable sources.

Who besides you and your family stands to gain if you heat with wood?

A few small companies would benefit: the local stove and fireplace shop; the equipment manufacturers; the chimney sweep who services the system each year; and the small jobbers, farmers and truckers who process and sell firewood might do a little better. This message is from people who believe we all gain when energy is used wisely. We think renewable energy is better than non-renewable sources like oil, gas and coal. Our expertise happens to be in wood energy, so we want to encourage its responsible use. Visit www.wood_heat.com on the Internet to learn more! Let us ensure that as long as the sun shines down on us, wood fires will continue to warm the body and soul of humanity.

8. The "GREENING"of the Woodstove

Who says a woodstove has to send smoke out the chimney? That old homily, "Where there's smoke, there's fire," just doesn't apply to a whole new generation of hi-tech stoves.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says a wood stove must not moke, and over the past few years the wood heat industry developed advanced technologies to make that apparent contradiction a reality.

In the early 1980's wood-stoves attracted the attention of environmentalists, who pointed out that the thick smoke from their chimneys was unhealthy to breathe. The problem was particularly acute in mountain communities where the smoke lay like a blanket on cold winter days.

Throughout the 80's, as state and federal environmental agencies worked to develop emission control regulations, manufacturers scrambled to design and test woodstove that would burn the wood more oompletely, thus producing less smoke.

Sceptics claimed it couldn't be done. But Carter Keithley head of the Wood Heating Alliance (W.H.A. a trade organization for wood heat appliance manufacturers and retailers)says, "More has been learned about how wood burns in stoves during the past 10 years than was learned in the hundreds of years since stoves were first used."

Developing new clean-burn technologies was costly. Hundreds of small manufacturers were simply forced out of the business. But the survivors met the regulators' targets. "It is no simple matter to design a woodstove to meet EPA emission limits,"say John Crouch, WHA emission control specialist. "Each EPA-certified model represents a research and development investment in the order of $100,000."

There are now over 250 certified clean burning models available to consumers. These advanced technologies are very effective, according to Crouch. "The new stoves are able to operate with a minimum of 50 percent less smoke and most are closer to 90 percent cleaner burning than the conventional stoves sold just five years ago.

Environmentalists like Steve Walker, air pollution control director for the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico, seem to agree. The city has attacked its wood smoke problem with considerable success. "EPA-certified stoves are totally capable of burning without smoke, provided they are used properly," says Walker. "In all our patrols last year, we cited only two owners of EPA-certified stoves, and they were doing everything wrong."

Norm Hudson, Vermont wood energy specialist, is enthusiastic about the new developments. He calls hi-tech stoves "a beautiful marriage."

"We need to burn wood efficiently and the hi-tech stuff forces us to. We should have been doing this long ago."

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The forests can play a role in solving our ENVIRONMENTAL and energy problems.
The America's forests will play an increasingly important role as the nation works to solve its environmental and energy problems. Paul Stegmeir, a forester energy specialist based in St. Paul, Minnesota is critical of what he sees as short term energy policies. By rapidly consuming the world's limited reserves of oil and gas, he says, "we are currently short-changing our children and grandchildren." On the other side of the ledger, he notes that our forest provide some clear responses to our environmental and energy dilemma.

Properly managed, our forests can help moderate the global warming trend, reduce our dependence on imported energy and still provide the raw materials for construction, furnishings and paper products. Theme of the American Forestry Association's project to combat global warming is, "Plant a Tree, Cool the Globe." This phrasereflects the fact that trees absorb carbon dioxide as they grow. Carbon dioxide is the main greenhouse gas that traps heat within the earth's atmosphere and causes its average temperature to rise. Since trees represent one of the earth's carbon storehouses, more trees mean less carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The importance of trees to reducing the greenhouse effect would appear at odds with burning wood as an alternative to fossil fuel (oil, natural gas and coal). But, as Stegmeir explains, "You need to look at the growth cycle and understand that forests regenerate themselves."

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10. Natural Growth Cycle

Burning non-renewable fossil fuels is like pumping carbon dioxide from inside the earth into the atmosphere. Burning wood also produces carbon dioxide, but this is part of a natural cycle in which carbon is absorbed by trees as they grow, released to the atmosphere as they rot on the forest floor or are burned. As a renewable fuel, wood is made up of recycled carbon and its use as an energy source does not add to the total amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

The real question is whether using more wood for energy purposes, in addition to all the other demands on our forests, will soon deplete the forests as we have depleted petroleum reserves. Stegmeir doesn't think so: "We currently waste a great deal of wood that could be used as fuel. Between 10 and 30 percent of each tree harvested is wasted, either left to rot on the forest floor or in the form of sawmill waste."

Due to a lack of proper forest management, the growth potential of the forests is not being realized. We are not even close to maximizing the potential annual growth. Forest output could be doubled in most cases and in some areas it could be quadrupled. Part of the management process involves thinning our cluttered forests to promote more vigorous growth, he says. This increases the rate of carbon dioxide absorption.

Thinning can be used as fuel to reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels and at the same time moderate the greenhouse effect. This beneficial inter-relationship between forest management and fuel production excites people like Stegmeir. He knows that if we treated them better, the forests could help us conquer both environmental and energy problems.

Part of the management process involves thinning our cluttered forests to promote more vigorous growth, he says. This increases the rate of carbon dioxide absorption.

Thinning can be used as fuel to reduce the dependence on imported fossil fuels and at the same time moderate the greenhouse effect. This beneficial inter-relationship between forest management and fuel production excites people like Stegmeir.

He knows that if we treated them better, the forests could help us conquer both environmental and energy problems.

"We need to look at all the important uses we have for the forest and its products, and find a sustainable balance between them," he says.

He also recognizes the importance of wilderness and recreational areas, and the need to preserve the beauty of forests for future generations.

"If we use them wisely" he says, "we can benefit in many ways and still enhance the assets of the forest resource.

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It's like spending the earth's savings, and scientists say it is changing the global climate.
Wood fuel is different. As trees grow, they absorb carbon dioxide from the air in a process powered by the sun. Indeed, about half the weight of dry wood is this absorbed carbon. A tree destroyed in a forest fire or one that falls and decays in the forest gives up its carbon once again to the air as carbon dioxide. And so continues the earth's carbon/carbon dioxide cycle. When trees are used for energy, a part of the forest's annual growth is diverted into our homes to heat them. Both natural firewood and wood pellets~made by compressing waste sawdust-are energy products from the forest. Well-managed forests can be a renewable, sustainable source of energy that helps us reduce greenhouse gas emissions by displacing the use of oil, gas and coal.

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