Pollution from coal is much worse. Burning wood emits carbon dioxide and particulates, but the carbon in the wood had been recently taken from the atmosphere, so burning what is considered sustainable. Burning coal adds carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, but carbon in the coal has been buried under the earth for millions of years and putting it back into the atmosphere is increasing the CO2 levels and causing global warming. Aside from the global warming, coal is only 65 to 95 % carbon. What about the rest? Coal contains small amounts of mercury, chromium, lead, cadmium, arsenic, sulfur, particulates, and radioactive isotopes. Man burns 6 billion tons of coal each year, releasing millions of tons of pollutants into the air and leaving several hundred million tons behind in the coal ash. Some pollutants eventually find their way into the water, the food chain, and into us. Oklahoma has adopted limits on fish consumption because of high levels of mercury. For comparison, mercury is 100 times as toxic as cyanide, arsenic is 20 times as toxic, and chromium(VI) is 4 times as toxic. These three are also are carcinogenic and accumulate in tissue. Even exposure below the allowed levels increases the chance of cancer over time.
Wood contains biological carbon and coal contains fossil carbon. The biological carbon was removed from the atmosphere when the tree was growing. When you burn the wood, you just put the carbon in the wood back in the atmosphere. But when you burn coal, you are putting carbon which has been locked away, probably for millions of years, into the atmosphere. As a result burning coal causes carbon dioxide to accumulate in the atmosphere, while wood doesn't. Coal may contain toxic substances from the surrounding rock, such as mercury or arsenic. Coal smoke may also be very corrosive to your stove and your stack.
yes. the carbon released from wood was recently removed from the atmosphere when the tree was alive. the carbon in coal was removed millions of years ago, so the same amount of energy from coal as you get from wood puts more carbon into the atmosphere. there are other things to consider tho, like where the wood came from. if it is sustainably sourced it is much better than coal, if it is from an unsustainable source (depending on type and age of the tree, how the wood was obtained, how far it was transported etc) then it may not be much better than coal.
Burning coal should be done in power stations not in a stove. Coal does have a few nasties in it and releasing them at rooftop level will be dangerous. We had all this crap in the 50's and sorted it with the clean air act. So stick with the wood, but note some wood is full of tar and will cause problems. Forget the global warming clap trap. Its easy when you are freezing you bits off.
Coal is a dirty, dirty gas and smogs the air, melts the ice caps, and increases temperature , effects the ozone,
burning wood is bad to but not ''as'' bad
it makes pollution but its much better than coal
We have a wood stove that can burn coal or wood. Is burning wood really better for the environment?
