Got Soot?

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Soaring heating oil prices ignite firewood demand

The run on firewood started last winter when heating oil surpassed $3 a gallon and kept on climbing. The environmental impact of the shift from oil to wood is unclear. State-of-the-art woodstoves are cleaner than older models, but particulate emissions remain higher than those of oil furnaces.

Anyone walking through a fireplace-friendly neighborhood on a cold night, eyes burning and nose recoiling from smoke invisible and not-so-invisible, can spot the enviro-looney here. Even state of the art woodburners are dirtier than oil, the suppression of which falls like ashes on the shoulders of the "hell, no, we won't drill," crowd.

Enjoy the air pollution, Nancy. And give a thought to forests cut down, the Bambis rampant, just to inefficiently replace what you and yours prefer stay in the ground.