Firewood can produce the least amount of carbon dioxide (one of the main greenhouse gases) of all heating energy sources. In fact firewood from plantations is greenhouse positive due to the carbon that is sequestered in the tree's root mass.

The reason that sustainable firewood is so good for the environment is that all of the carbon that is produced during combustion is reabsorbed by trees as they grow.  The only increase in greenhouse gas comes from the diesel that is consumed by trucks when the wood is transported.

"By using firewood to heat their homes, every Australian can help to reduce this country's reliance on coal-fired power generation."

Firewood is not often recognised as a practical, readily available source of "green" energy. Unlike other sources of "green" energy, firewood does not need major capital investment or infrastructure. Every tonne of firewood contains approximately 20,000 Megajoules of stored energy.

To understand how this stored energy compares to other forms of "green" energy such as wind power electricity generation, you need to convert the electricity produced from Megawatt hours into Megajoules. One Megawatt hour equals 3,600 Megajoules.

This means that a typical 660 kW wind turbine will generate the same amount of energy in one year, to that contained in 315 tonnes of firewood.

Recent estimates (Driscoll et al 2000) place Australia's annual firewood consumption at around 4,000,000 tonnes. This is equivalent to the annual output of 12,700 (660 kW) wind turbines or six large (500 MW) coal fired power stations.

Information courtesy of The Firewood Association of Australia Inc.