Wood differs fundamentally from fossil fuels. You find it at ground level – no need to drill or dig. It sequesters carbon perpetually. When you cut down trees, you mimic nature. When you burn wood, you mimic nature. Natural Resources puts it this way: “As a tree grows, it absorbs carbon dioxide from the air and stores it in the wood as carbon. When wood is burned, carbon dioxide is released to the atmosphere. The same amount of carbon dioxide would be released if the tree died and was left to rot.” (Wood is roughly 50 per cent carbon.)
Managed properly, forests are thus a never-ending source of an essentially benign fossil fuel. Cutting down trees and burning them, rather than leaving them to die and rot, compresses the length of the natural “life cycle” of the forest or woodlot. But as long as new trees are planted to replace trees cut down, the circle need never be broken.
Indeed, some authorities assert that, on a life cycle basis from seedling to cordwood, a clean-burning stove or fireplace can now heat your home more efficiently, and with less environmental impact, than any other fuel option.
Environmentalists get frightfully confused by forests, often causing politicians to get confused (or frightened) as well.
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