Wood (and coal) based home heating in small stoves and boilers emits about half of all fine particulate matter (Pm2.5) and carbon black (the black dust produced predominantly from carbon) within the European Union .
This was stated in a study entitled "Where there is fire there is smoke, emissions from domestic heating with wood" by the European enviromental bureau (Eeb), the largest European network of environmental organizations together with the Danish Green transition.
Of all sources of heat production, the study explains, "burning domestic wood is the worst pollutant, causing the highest health costs. Although the new wood stoves and boilers emit fewer particles than previous models, they pollute much more. of other available heat production methods, and therefore should not be considered a viable solution for the reduction of air pollution ".
Conversely, the Eeb says, "there would be greater health benefits if you stop using small-scale wood combustion and use better insulation and clean heat solutions, such as district heating in cities and heat pumps. heat outside the cities ".
Going into detail, the study states that a new EcoDesign stove (which provides the minimum requirements that solid fuel products used for heating must meet in order to be placed on the European market) in 2022 can emit 60 times more particulate matter than an old truck. of 2006 and 750 times more than a truck of 2014. A new EcoDesign stove in 2022 can emit 5 grams of fine particles per kilogram of wood so "burning just one kilogram of wood will pollute 500,000 cubic meters of completely clean air up to of the current World Health Organization guideline on air quality for fine particulate matter (10 µg / m3).