Our wood burning stove provides carbon emission free heat for our home. Wood fuel is carbon free because trees absorb carbon as they grow, and then re-release it after they die and decompose. Since the carbon would be re-emitted anyway if the trees were left to decompose, by burning it, we add no net carbon to the atmosphere.

We chose the Encore stove by Vermont Castings. It has the lowest EPA particulate emissions of any stove in the industry, at 0.7 grams per hour. Though burning wood creates no carbon emissions, it can create localized air quality problems, especially with wood stoves built before 1988. The cost can be cheaper than natural gas and propane, but that depends a great deal on the price of wood in your area. Wood heat also requires a great deal more work than just adjusting your thermostat, including cutting, splitting, stacking, loading, and ash clean up.

We have our wood delivered and stacked for us, which is much less time, but more expensive than cutting and stacking it ourselves.

You can find out if wood burning is a viable economically by checking out this excellent Fuel Value Calculator put out by the USDA. You will need to know how much of your current fuel you need, and the price per cord for seasoned hardwood in your area. If you go to your local Craig's List page, and search on "firewood" you will find out current prices for wood in your area. Sitting around the stove is great fun though. We don't have a television, so the wood stove is the centerpiece of our living area. We can spend hours around the wood stove, watching the fire through the glass doors as we read or do work.