Fighting for Clean Air and Healthier Lives
Discover how wood burning harms our health and our environment – and what you can do about it
What's wrong with Woodburning?
Many people associate burning wood with a cosy feeling of wellbeing, however the reality is that burning wood is irreparably damaging our physical and mental health and emits more greenhouse gases than burning oil, gas or coal
Hundreds of scientific studies have been carried out over the years from many countries around the world that all conclusively link wood smoke to health conditions such as Asthma, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), various Cancers, Dementia, Strokes, damage to children’s mental and physical growth and low birth weight. Even occasional wood burning increases womens lung cancer risk by 43%.
Over 100 health professionals recently wrote to Keir Starmer, the UK’s PM calling on him to take action on wood burning stoves due to health concerns. Over 100 Conservative MPs backed a think tank study that recommended health warning labels should be placed on woodburning stoves.
"We found that particles from burning wood and solid fuel showed a clear match to the daily death rates, with increases that lasted at least three days"
Air pollution researchers at Imperial College London. See full article here
Did you know?
Why is wood smoke harmful to our health?
Woodsmoke is made up of over 100 different damaging chemicals and compounds including Dioxins, Poly Acrylic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), Benzene, Lead, Benzo-a-pyrene, Particulates such as PM2.5 and PM1, Carbon Monoxide, Methane, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs,) Cadmium and Arsenic to name a few. All of these on their own would cause considerable health problems but when combined and multiplied (such as is the case when you have a few people in one neighbourhood using wood burning stoves), the toxic mix is damaging the health of everyone in the area. The most damaging particles in wood smoke cannot be blocked out by simply closing doors and windows.
Particulate Matter and Ultra fine particles
Some of the most dangerous particles in woodsmoke such as Particulate Matter 2.5, Particulate Matter 1 and ultra fine particles are so fine and small that they evade our bodies’ defence systems and penetrate the deepest recesses of our lungs, cross into the bloodstream and transport toxins to every organ of the body where they do serious harm. They even cross the blood-brain barrier. And with log burners emitting more pm2.5 pollution than all road traffic in the UK (despite only 8% of homes having one), they are a leading cause of air pollution and are damaging everyone’s health. This is especially alarming when you realise that ownership and use of woodburning stoves is on the rise (on average, 200,000 new woodburning stoves are sold each year).
Emissions from wood burners cost the EU and the UK 13 billion Euros in health costs a year and are responsible for nearly half the cancer risk caused by urban air pollution.
Did you know?
How much pollution is entering your home from a neighbour's Ecodesign wood burning stove?
Shutting windows and doors does not stop the most dangerous pollutants in wood smoke from entering your house. This is because of how tiny these particles are. This photo shows the typical levels of particulate matter that enter a house when a neighbour is using an Ecodesign wood burning stove. This reading was taken inside a insulated, double glazed house with all doors and windows shut and all fan vents closed.
There’s no level of exposure to pm2.5 below which negative health effects aren’t seen.
How much pollution is there from wood smoke where you live?
Many people around the UK are so concerned about wood smoke pollution that they have personally paid for air pollution monitors that sit outside of their houses. These sensors can be viewed online at any time by anyone here. The picture on the right shows a typical reading from one of our members who lives in a rural village in Scotland. This reading was taken when a neighbour was using an Ecodesign wood burning stove and burning dry wood.
A study was conducted by Stirling University students into the causes of air pollution locally with wood smoke being an issue for many people.
Purple Air real time UK map allows you to watch live as the pollution levels rise to health harming levels in evenings and at weekends in autumn and winter. If you have a woodburning stove near to one of the sensor locations then you’ll be able to see how your burning is impacting local pollution levels. Current evidence shows there is no safe level of air pollution
How far does wood smoke pollution travel?
The video shows just how far wood smoke travels and shows that everyone in a neighbourhood is being affected by it regardless of whether you live in a built up urban area, a suburban area or a rural small town or village. The small harmful particles released by solid fuel burning can stay in the air and even travel long distances. This is especially bad in winter when weather conditions involving stagnant air and temperature inversions limit air movement, trapping air pollution close to the ground, and keeping the air pollution in our breathing space.
How does wood burning affect local people?
my children can't play outside at weekends because of all the woodsmoke from all the woodburning stoves near us
The smoke from my neighbours' wood burning stoves enters my house even when the windows and doors are closed. It always gives me a sore throat and a cough
My child has asthma and I have to keep the windows shut all the time during the colder months because of all the wood smoke from the neighbours around us using their woodburning stoves
I dread autumn and winter now because I know I'll be spending every night struggling to breathe because of all the wood burning stoves being used in my neigbourhood
I have to drive 2 miles every night just to walk my dog because my neighbourhood is so full of woodsmoke that I can't breathe properly
Is wood burning a human rights issue?
Everyone should have the right to breathe clean air and no one should take that away from anyone. People who use wood burning stoves in the vicinity of occupied properties are taking away everyones right to breathe clean air.
This is the lung of a non-smoking teenager who has been exposed to pm2.5 pollution which is produced in huge amounts from all wood burning stoves. Once pm2.5 has entered the lungs, it is there forever The damage can never be undone.
The Environmental Rights Centre for Scotland are currently campaigning for an enforceable right to a healthy environment including the right to breathe clean air.
Asthma and Lung UK Scotland have started a petition to update air quality standards in Scotland to align with 2021 World Health Organisation guidelines. Please sign the petition here
How bad is wood burning for our planet?
Many people believe that wood burning is better for the environment than burning other types of fuel. This is not true. Here are the facts.
- Burning wood produces more CO2 than burning oil, gas and coal.
- Burning wood also produces more black carbon and methane than burning other types of fuel.
- Newly planted trees cannot replace the carbon storing capacity of older trees that get cut down to be burnt.
- Huge swathes of wildlife habitat are lost when trees are cut down to be burnt resulting in localised extinctions of bird and insect species who were using this habitat as a home and as a food source.
Woodburning is not compatible with a net zero future.
People who use a wood burner more than 30 days a year have a 68% increased lung cancer risk
Did you know?
Are wood burning stoves cheaper to use?
In most cases no. There are many significant hidden costs to burning wood. Woodfuel prices rise just like gas and electricity prices rise. Burning wood is a highly inefficient way to heat a home since most of the heat is going straight up a chimney and into the open air and only the room that the fire is situated in is being heated, leaving the rest of the house cold and susceptible to damp and mould. When other sources of heat are used such as heat pumps or gas or oil central heating the entire house is being heated and all of the heat is staying inside your home.
Research published in October 2023 revealed that the yearly cost of using a new, Defra compliant stove for just 20% of a household’s heat, including purchase & installation, is 24% higher than running a typical gas boiler.
Even when using an existing stove, the yearly cost is 15% higher than gas. In almost every scenario, it is cheaper to heat your home using a gas boiler or a heat pump, not to mention less polluting and more efficient.
15% more costly than using gas
The purchase, installation and use of a wood burning stove is expensive. This survey from 2020 shows that of over 46,000 people across the UK over 46% of those burning solid fuels were from the highest AB social grades. The survey also showed that 96% of people burning wood had alternative heating sources and that the majority of people who are burning wood are doing it for reasons of “socialising and creating a homely atmosphere” rather than using it to provide necessary heat.
What’s wrong with firepits?
Burning dry wood outside in a fire pit is one of the most harmful things to your health you can do.
The South Coast Air Quality Management District in California found that the particulate emissions rate per minute from one beach fire ring (fire pit) is equivalent to the secondhand smoke from 800 cigarettes.
This video shows how much pollution is produced when using a firepit. The one in this video was a Solo Stove which is designed to burn more efficiently but within seconds of starting the fire, the air monitor readings were maxed out. The air quality in his yard during the use of this firepit was as poor as the September 2020 wildfires that spread across the state. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQwHgscZ47I&t=7s
