Environmentally Friendly Alternatives to Burning Wood
What to burn instead of wood in a fireplace or fire pit and have real flames?
You certainly want to enjoy the warmth of your fireplace or fire pit, but you may be concerned about the environmental impact of burning wood. So what can you burn instead of firewood? What is more environmentally friendly than burning wood? Some of the environmentally friendly alternatives to burning wood include: natural gas or propane fire pits, adding fake logs to the fire, electric fireplaces, solar cookers, LED fireplaces and infrared fireplaces. But what eco-friendly fuel can you use for a fire pit or fireplace and still have the lovely natural flames?
In this article we will briefly look into the environmental impact of burning wood and give you some ideas on what you can burn instead of wood and some eco-friendly fuel options you can find on the market.
First, let’s answer the question of what is the impact of burning wood and what is the most eco-friendly fuel for fire pits, fireplaces and stoves.
Is burning wood environmentally friendly?
Whether burning wood is environmentally friendly depends on the type of your wood burner, as well as what wood you burn in it. For example smokeless fire pits are a more eco-friendly option. Apart from that, wood burning can be a carbon neutral process. How? It’s because the carbon released from burning wood is balanced out by the carbon absorbed by the tree during its lifetime. As we are able to regrow trees, firewood actually can be a sustainable energy source. But there is a different take on that and it may not be as good as it seems.
Is burning wood bad for the environment?
Unfortunately, yes. Burning wood does pollute the atmosphere and fuels global warming. The carbon emissions and smoke released to the atmosphere cannot be ignored, as they have a considerable negative impact on the environment.
So what can I burn instead of wood to reduce the environmental impact of my stove or fire pit? Here are some examples of eco fuel for fire pits, wood stoves, or fireplaces:
Environmentally friendly alternatives to burning wood
Here is our list of eco-friendly alternatives to burning wood:
- wood pellets
- eco logs
- coffee logs
- switchgrass and soy logs
- biomass bricks
- compressed paper bricks
- eco-friendly fire starters
- alkohol inserts
Read on to find out which of these is the best for you.
Eco-friendly wood alternatives
Wood pellets
Wood pellets are one of the most popular alternatives to burning wood. They are made of sawdust and other lumber byproducts from wood mills. Wood pellets are easy to handle in transport and convenient for storage. They also produce less char than wood and are a very efficient, low cost fuel. Wood pellets can be used for barbecues and those produced from aromatic types of wood can add extra flavor to your grilled food.
Premium Hardwood Pellets
Natural Hardwood Pellets
Eco logs
What are eco logs?
The next kind of less harmful fuel are eco logs. There are various types of eco logs: they can be made from compressed wood chips, sawdust or other waste products such as coffee grounds or grape seeds. These wood alternatives are more environmentally friendly because they produce less fumes, burn longer, and often even burn hotter, so they are more efficient.
Are eco logs any good?
Yes, using eco logs has many advantages, which include:
- more heat
- lighter weight
- they take up less storage space
- easier to light
- less leftover ash
- less soot and creosote produced
- can be cheaper than firewood
Some popular examples of eco logs are coffee logs and soy logs and we describe them below.
Coffee logs
Coffee logs are an excellent fire pit or fireplace fuel. They are made from recycled coffee grounds collected from coffee shops and other places. Coffee logs burn 20% hotter as compared to firewood, they help to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and carbon footprint created by other fuels such as coal or wood.
Switchgrass and soy logs
This eco-friendly firewood alternative is a type of fuel made from soy wax and grass. The soy wax burns cleaner than wood and without leaving residue on your stove or fireplace.
Biomass bricks
This category of firewood alternatives covers a broad spectrum pf compacted organic material, which can be used for fuel. Biomass bricks, also called biomass briquettes, are usually made of green waste and other organic materials. These materials include: husk, nut shells and all sorts of agricultural waste.
Coffee Logs
Wood Bisquettes for Grilling
Fresh Balsam Fir Firelogs
Duraflame Natural Fire Logs
Compressed paper bricks
Another type of eco fuel to replace firewood are compressed paper bricks. They are more environmentally friendly as they burn cleaner than wood. Paper fire logs are made of 100% recycled material, which would otherwise go to waste.
Recycled Cardboard Logs
What about fire starters? Are there any environmentally friendly options as well? Yes, there are many natural fire starters which you can make yourself or buy. Here are some examples:
Eco-friendly fire starters
Biomass Fire Starters
Enviro-Log Firestarters
Alcohol inserts
This is a great, easy to handle alternative to firewood or gas fuel, and it’s most commonly used for cooking and food heating. Alcohol gel cans are a clean-burning fuel suitable for indoor or outdoor use. Have a look at the examples below:
Alcohol alternatives to firewood
Methanol Gel Chafing Fuel
Stainless Steel Chafer Wick Canned Fuel – Heat Holder with Safety Cover
Alternatives to wood-burning fire pits
If you are looking for an alternative to a traditional wood burning fire pit or fireplace, you may want to consider an alcohol burner, like one of those below:
Examples of alcohol fire burners
Portable Tabletop Alcohol Fireplace
Rectangular Concrete Alcohol Fire Pit
Eco-friendly fuels FAQs
And finally we answer some frequently asked questions about environmentally friendly fuels for fire pits or fireplaces.
Are bioethanol fires eco friendly?
Yes, bioethanol fires are eco-friendly because they produce almost no smoke, gases or other harmful particles and most importantly they don’t contribute to increasing global warming. Another way in which bio ethanol fuel makes less impact on the environment is that it doesn’t require devices with a chimney, so the heat it produces isn’t lost in the chimney and stays in the room (if used indoors).
What is the most environmentally friendly fuel to burn in a stove?
Well seasoned wood is the most environmentally-friendly fuel to burn in a stove or closed woodburner. Also smokeless coal or other smokeless fuels are other good options to stay environmentally friendly.
What is your favorite alternative to firewood? Share in the comments!
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