Reduce Wood Smoke Pollution This Heating Season

Wood stoves will provide heat in an estimated 12 million American homes this fall and winter. Nearly three-fourths of those stoves are old, inefficient models that emit a significant amount of wood smoke – smoke that’s bad for your health, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Wood smoke contains a mixture of gases and particle pollution that isn’t healthy to breathe – especially for children, people with asthma or other lung diseases, people with heart disease and older adults. Wood smoke can trigger asthma attacks. It’s also been linked to heart attacks.

Replacing an old, inefficient wood stove with an EPA-certified stove is the best way to make the air at your home cleaner if you heat with wood. But if you can’t replace your older stove right now, there are still simple steps you can take to reduce harmful wood smoke pollution – steps that can save you money by reducing the amount of wood you have to use to heat your home.

For example, burning firewood that’s been properly dried can save money and help protect your family’s health. Wet wood can create excessive smoke - -and since it doesn’t burn as hot, wet wood wastes fuel. Burning dry wood that has been properly split, stacked, covered and stored can create a hotter fire and produce less smoke inside and out.

EPA’s Burn Wise program helps people who heat with wood take steps to make their wood stoves cleaner and more efficient. Find other tips for healthier, more efficient wood heating from the program’s “Burn Wise” campaign.