Wood burners and fine dust

Arguments for heating with wood

In the climate debate, heating with wood is criticised time and time again due to fine dust emissions. Here are a few facts and figures on the issue.

From a climate perspective, wood is an exceptional energy source, provided that it is sourced regionally. In Switzerland alone, we could reduce nationwide CO2 emissions by 500,000 tonnes if we also used the two to three million m3 of wood that could already be made available from our sustainably managed Swiss forests.

That the fine dust emissions made by wood burners are greater than those of other heating systems is undisputed. However, this is just one factor to consider. The quality of the boilers and the integrated particle filters has increased significantly. The most important step, therefore, is to rapidly replace dated systems with modern pellet burners.

It is important to look at the issue in its entirety when assessing pollutant emissions, and to consider the overall balance of the environmental impact that various heating systems have. And pellet heating systems outperform fossil-fuel heating systems several times over in this regard.

Further information on heating with wood can be found at proPellets.