Apparently in Midi Pyrenees 37% of households burn wood as part of their heating system. Of these almost half use wood exclusively, the rest being occasional users. This is a third higher than the national average, but the very rural population goes a long way to explaining this. Most cities have piped natural gas whereas in rural and mountain areas many use oil or wood. A year or so back there was a row when the Paris departments considered banning wood burners as they are polluting in cities
The figures, supplied by the firewood industry, are reckoned to be a good thing, the fuel source
oil in popularity. It is said that 1.75 million m3 of logs are burned, three quarters from local forests. But the report makes no mention of how those forests are replaced. There seems to be no system of re-planting and here around Mas del Sol we continue to see whole swathes of woodland being devastated by tree cutting, and laving scrub land with few saplings for future use.
The loss of forest is an important factor in global warming and the forestry filiaire should be telling us how they are planning to sustain the fuel, rather saying how good they are at supplying it.
David says
I use oil day to day for heating and water. I have a large open fire that we use maybe once a week with wood and coal. In the last 10 years we have never had to purchase wood as we use left over wood from renovations or donated by neighbour's.
David
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