This year’s Clean Air Night on January 22nd is a chance for all of us to come together and talk about how we can protect our health and the planet. Wood burning is a big topic regarding air quality, so let’s explore the facts and see where improvements have been – and continue to be – made through better stove technology and education. 

The hazy truth on traditional wood burning 

First things first – what exactly is the problem with conventional open fires and older wood-burning stoves? In simple terms, they release loads of harmful pollutants into the surrounding air that are bad news for our lungs and the environment. 

Inside a traditional open brick fireplace, the combustion process is hugely inefficient. The wood doesn’t thoroughly burn and smoulders away slowly instead. This produces billowing clouds of smoke containing suspended particles, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, and other nasties that just get released straight up the chimney. There’s no filtration or treatment at all before they enter the atmosphere. 

Older wood stoves do slightly better but still have pretty poor combustion, leaving a lot of contamination out. Most lack sufficient insulation or air flow controls. Some may have a baffle to reburn gasses, but not much else regarding emissions reduction technology. Again, you end up with many hazardous compounds floating into the sky. 

And that’s before we’ve even mentioned burning wet or unseasoned wood! Green (fresh) wood with high moisture content exacerbates the issue even more. Instead of catching fire, wet logs will smoulder and smoke profusely, creating even more significant pollution. It’s super unhealthy for us and the planet – and not too good at keeping you warm, either! 

The particulates, gases, and VOCs released by open fires and old wood-burning stoves are seriously bad news if inhaled. This contamination can worsen respiratory illnesses, asthma, heart and lung conditions, and can even cause health risks. Overall, we agree – open fires and old wood-burning stoves are highly polluting and best avoided! 

The clean solution – modern stove engineering 

Woodford Lowry 5X Wood Burning / Multifuel Ecodesign Stove

Thankfully, newer wood-burning stove designs have advanced tremendously in recent years! Today’s Ecodesign-compliant models burn fuel way more efficiently and with dramatically lower emissions when used correctly. The right stove can heat your home with renewable wood energy and far less impact. 

Modern combustion engineering allows much more thorough burning for increased efficiency and reduced particulate matter pollution. By enhancing airflow and precisely controlling the internal firebox temperature, most of the wood gets converted fully to heat instead of dirty smoke. Up to 90% less particle pollution versus conventional open fireplaces is totally achievable with a high-tech Ecodesign stove! 

Many modern Ecodesign stoves now have secondary combustion systems that re-burn the smoke before it goes out of the chimney. Additional oxygen gets injected to ignite the gases for further combustion. This removes up to 80% more emissions compared to older stoves and open fires without these innovations. Catalytic converters take it a step further for ultra-low pollution exhaust. 

Other improvements in the overall stove design will help, too. Tightly sealed doors and precisely adjustable air inlets allow better regulation over the internal burn process. This improves efficiency and ensures the fire gets enough oxygen for clean burning but doesn’t get overloaded, causing excess smoke. Plus, added insulation keeps heat in the firebox, so less fuel is needed to heat your space effectively. 

Choosing a high-performance, eco-friendly model

So, if you’re ready to select a stove, there are a few things to look out for. You want to choose an environmentally certified model to ensure it meets strict emissions standards. Look for these certification badges:

  • DEFRA Approved: Meets the UK government’s clean air requirements for legal installation in smoke control areas. Models must pass stringent testing to get this designation. 
  • Ecodesign: Certifies the stove meets Europe’s strict efficiency and low emissions requirements. 
  • ClearSkies: A label applied to stoves passing a voluntary performance standard that exceeds Ecodesign requirements. 

These certifications verify the greenest models, producing minimal pollution. 

Go Eco 5kW Wood Burning / Multifuel Ecodesign Stove

Fuel choice matters too – use correctly seasoned dry wood 

Now you’ve got a shortlist – or perhaps even found the perfect high-efficiency stove for your home – it’s time to think about what you’ll burn in it. Modern Ecodesign and DEFRA-approved stoves might be clean, green solutions, but the type of wood fuel used makes a huge difference, too. Wet or unseasoned wood will still smoulder inefficiently and pump out contamination, even in an eco-model stove designed for clean burning. 

Freshly cut green wood should never be burned in your stove. That’s because it has a high moisture content that prevents proper ignition. Instead of bursting into flame, wet logs smoulder and produce piles of smoke loaded with particulates, carbon monoxide, and other nasties. 

The best practice is to burn only seasoned firewood that has been air-dried for six months to a year before use. Or even better, shop our range of high-quality, kiln-dried softwood logs with less than 20% guaranteed moisture content. This allows for better combustion with 50% (or even more) less particle emissions than burning wet, green wood. Letting logs dry out leads to a cleaner burn. 

You can test your wood supply with a moisture meter to ensure it is ready for burning. With the proper fuel and stove combo, we can heat our homes affordably with a renewable resource in an environmentally responsible manner. 

The renewable heating future 

Efficient wood-burning stoves have an essential role to play in the future of sustainable heating. Wood can complement other green technologies like air source heat pumps quite effectively as a renewable fuel source. The stoves provide a central heat hub and cosy ambience, while the heat pump handles most conditioning duties. 

Promoting clean burning stoves allows us to maintain the comforts and aesthetic of traditional hearth fires while radically reducing the associated health and environmental impacts through modern engineering. Upgrading old stoves and open fires provides immediate local air quality improvements that we all benefit from. 

On Clean Air Night and beyond, we should continue having open conversations about adopting cleaner heating. Fuel selections, technology upgrades, and correct installations can all positively change our health and the environment. 

Let’s use this awareness night to spread knowledge and empower each other to make sustainable improvements to how we heat our homes. Small individual actions really do add up when adopted broadly. And keep checking back to learn and share more ways to work together to burn wood responsibly, and protect the air we breathe.