New research from the University of New Hampshire says the greenest way to heat your home this winter is a wood pellet stove.
Using wood pellets to heat a home in New England produces about half the amount of greenhouse gas emissions compared to fossil fuel sources, according to research from University of New Hampshire professor John Gunn. He said that comparison isn’t just about how clean wood pellets burn, it's also about the amount of emissions the entire wood pellet economy creates.
“So we looked at all the emissions associated with changes on the forest, with transporting the wood from the forest to the facility, and transporting the pellets from the facility to an average consumer,” Gunn explained. “We call that a life-cycle assessment.”
According to UNH, right now, about half of all homes in New Hampshire use home heating oil, while about eight percent use wood.
This report comes from the New England News Collaborative: Eight public media companies coming together to tell the story of a changing region, with support from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.