Live Well. Live Pure.: GREEN TIP OF THE WEEK (GTW)

Green Tip of the Week: Wood Burning Fireplaces vs. Gas Fireplaces

It is sad to say but now that temps are cooling down, it's time to turn on the heat. In Chicago, it is pretty standard to have a fireplace in your condo/home/apartment. I LOVE lighting my fire in my apartment because I love the feeling of warmth that radiates throughout my condo and the way it makes my living room glow.

Some may ask, which is better for the environment, wood burning or gas fireplaces? Here is the down-low on the two...

Wood Burning Fireplaces:
Although fireplace may be romantic and produce that wonderful crackling sound, they are also messy, time consuming and tend to be net heat losers. The amount of heat lost by opening your chimney flute greatly counter-acts the actual amount of heat that a wood burning fire can produce. Also, you are burning wood-wood cut from living or dead trees that can be reused or recycled elsewhere. The time frame for a log of wood to burn doesn't have a significant time-span to produce the amount of heat you would ideally want; the shorter the fire, the greater the net heat loss.

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Gas Fireplaces:
Gas fireplaces provide all the beautiful, heat-generating benefits without all the inconveniences of wood fires. Gas burning fireplaces can help reduce the problem of amount of heat loss created by wood burning fireplaces. There is no need for firewood that costs money and harmful to the environment or the other resources that can be used from wood. Natural gas fireplaces is much cleaner! Also, you have the option to control the actual fire and the amount of heat it produces. Choosing gas fireplaces over other alternative sources of heat allow you to save on your heating bills as well sustaining trees that take decades to grow! It is a total win-win situation!