2023-05-14 13:04:17
The UBA therefore rejects the promotion of wood heating and demands higher standards in terms of air pollution control. Forest owners are alarmed.
The President of the Federal Environment Agency (UBA), Dirk Messner, has warned of the massive fine dust pollution from wood heating. “Meanwhile, wood heating accounts for more than 20 percent of all fine dust emissions. That is roughly the same as the emissions from road traffic,” said Messner in an interview with the German Press Agency.
“Above all, single-room furnaces such as fireplaces and stoves, of which we have over 11 million in Germany, represent a significant source of fine dust.” Therefore, the UBA rejects the promotion of wood heating and demands higher standards in terms of air pollution control.
According to a draft law passed by the Federal Cabinet, heating with biomass such as wood should only remain an option in existing buildings where other solutions are not feasible or sensible, for example because of monument protection. The law is intended to herald the end of gas and oil heating systems in the interests of climate protection.
Pellet heating better than stove
Forest owners are alarmed. “By discriminating against renewable wood energy, the federal government is endangering sustainable forest management in Germany,” said Irene Seling, general manager of the working group of forest owners on her website. For the forest owners, the marketing of residual wood that cannot be used in a higher quality than firewood is an important source of income to finance climate-resilient forest conversion.
UBA President Messner can understand that. “We also understand that forest owners have an economic interest in this. This residual wood can then be used in wood heating systems, which are operated as central heating systems with pellets,” said Messner. “That makes a big difference to burning wood in fireplaces. The emissions from fireplaces are significantly higher than with pellet heating systems, which are automatically controlled and have dust separators that remove fine dust from the exhaust gases.” But from the perspective of climate protection, it is always better to process wood than to burn it. (dpa)
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