The Dept. of Energy said recently that fireplaces “should not be considered heating devices.” I thought that was interesting. An article on green.msn.com said that they’re only about 10% efficient, and that they let all kinds of warm air escape your home.
My parents installed a wood burning stove last year and they say it saves them loads on their heating. I guess their situation isn’t what the article described. They have their stove in the basement, and because it’s not a traditional fireplace, it has a glass door you can close. It’s new, so it even has a fan in the bottom that blows the hot air through the house, and the hot air that rises goes to the main floor.
Even if their stove is saving them money, we need to consider the trees that fuel their fire. My dad’s pretty savvy and gets trees that are fallen down. So that helps, however, even the fallen trees have value as they will soon be nutrients for future trees. I wonder if I could get a tree expert to evaluate the situation…
