Fuel for the Fire

The next time you're thinking of building a fire in your conventional wood fireplace, burn a firelog instead of wood. If possible, look for firelogs that are wax-free, or ones that are made vegetable wax instead of paraffin, which is made from petroleum.

Firelogs prevent tree cutting. Because they're made from wood waste and other natural materials, they reduce the volume of garbage sent to landfills. And since they burn cleaner than wood, firelogs decrease toxic and carcinogenic emissions by 70 to 90 percent compared to wood burning.

A household that substitutes firelogs for wood in the fireplace, will save the equivalent of a 60-foot tree per year, prevent some 200 pounds of sawdust, coffee grounds, or other natural materials from entering the waste stream, and eliminate 70 pounds of carbon monoxide emissions per year.

If one-quarter of the 27 million U.S. homes with wood-burning fireplaces burned manufactured firelogs instead of wood this winter, the trees saved could cover a forested area twice the size of Manhattan. The waste saved would weigh 1.3 billion pounds, and the pollution eliminated would be the equivalent of taking 800,000 cars off the road for an entire year.

EPA's review of wood heater and fireplace emission factors (PDF)
Omni Environmental Services