5 Eco-Friendly Fuel Alternatives to Coal
Coal has been a popular choice of fuel for centuries – but with new rules around air quality and the ever-growing concern for the environment, it’s time to consider more eco-friendly fuel alternatives. There is a lot of choice on the market today when it comes to choosing eco-friendly fuel for a small wood burning stove. To make it easier for you, we have selected the best eco-friendly fuel alternatives, which are easy to source and better for the air and environment.
Kiln Dried or Seasoned Wood
When it comes to the environment, burning dry, seasoned wood in your small wood log burner is one of the best eco-friendly fuel alternatives to coal. While coal mining and burning emit significant amounts of carbon into the atmosphere, burning wood releases only carbon that has already been circulating, meaning no new carbon is being added to the atmosphere. The wood you burn has to have a moisture content of 20% or less, and it should have the Ready to Burn certification.
Wood is also a renewable resource, provided that trees are replanted in sufficient quantities to replace the wood being used as fuel for your fire. As a result, burning dry wood is a much more eco-friendly fuel for your small log burner in comparison to coal. To give back to the environment, we are partnered with Tree Sisters – for every Hobbit Stove or Little Range we sell, we will fund the planting of 3 trees at no extra cost to you!
Small logs for small stoves ~ our recommendations
Love Logs 6-8 inch logs
Certainly Wood Dinkies Logs
CPT Fuelwood (if you are Devon based, Paul and Tracey deliver 8-inch logs)
Eco Briquettes
Eco briquettes are another great eco-friendly fuel alternative. Made from compressed wood leftovers from manufacturing processes, which would otherwise go to waste, they are tightly compressed into small bricks which burn very clean with little to no smoke. Due to the compression process and how much is packed into the wood briquettes, eco bricks burn longer than coal or wood, and they burn very hot. If you are looking for an eco-friendly fuel alternative to keep your fire going for a long period, then wood briquettes are a great choice.
Eco briquettes ~ our recommendations
Woodlets Roastie-Toasties
Hotmax Fuel Logs
Lekto Sawdust Briquettes
Lekto 8-hour Night Briquettes
DIY Paper Bricks
If you want to go seriously off-grid, try your hand at making your own briquettes from used newspapers. It’s a great way to make use of old newspapers without using the resources involved in recycling.
How to make it:
- Shred old newspapers
- Soak the shredded paper in a bucket of water for several days until it breaks down into a pulp
- Compress the pulp into bricks using a briquette press, squeezing out as much moisture as possible
- Leave the bricks to dry thoroughly for several weeks before use
Your homemade eco-friendly bricks will need to be very dry before you burn them; if not, this will result in a failed fire and more smoke. Watch this video for a step-by-step guide.
