Which Fireplace Is Best for the Environment? Wood, Gas, Electric, Pellet or Alcohol?

Wood Burning Fireplaces

Wood-burning fireplaces are the most traditional, but they can still be funky. 
But like all open wood-burning fireplaces, it's very inefficient. An open fireplace can pull up to 300 cubic feet of indoor heated air into the chimney per minute. 
They also produce so much particulate pollution that the city of Montreal has banned them and hopes to phase them out altogether by the end of the decade. Fireplaces can be improved by introducing outdoor air combustion and glass doors, but they are still fairly ineffective.

Wood Burning Stoves

Engineered wood burning stoves are more efficient. Certified stoves are a huge improvement and can significantly reduce fine particulate pollution. However, new stoves can be expensive; They worked hard to achieve high efficiency and low pollution figures, according to the US Department of Energy. 
Advanced wood-burning stoves provide a lot of heat, but usually only work effectively when the fire is burning at full speed. Also known as secondary combustion furnaces, they can reach temperatures of up to 1,100 degrees Fahrenheit, high enough to burn flammable gases. These stoves have several components that help them burn flammable gases and particles before they leave the chimney. The assembly includes a metal channel that heats secondary air and feeds it to a furnace above the fire. This heated oxygen helps to burn the volatile gases above the flame without slowing it down.

Masonry Heaters

Masonry heaters are a Scandinavian tradition. The best were built with soapstone, but others were built with more traditional masonry or even rammed earth. According to Wikipedia, they are: 
A ventilation and heating system of primarily masonry construction with a mass of at least 800 kg (1760 lb), excluding chimneys and a masonry heater base. In particular, a masonry heater is a masonry heater specifically designed to capture and store large amounts of heat energy from a solid fuel fire. 
In short, their thermal mass continues to give off heat long after the fire has gone out. However, they are heavy and expensive to build.

Pellet Stoves

Pellet furnaces are fairly efficient (75 to 90 percent) and have low emissions. This particle is made from waste sawdust, good consistency, easy to use. According to Popular Mechanics. 
Pellet fuel does not have many advantages over soft: it has a water content of less than 8 percent, compared with 20 percent or more for dry wood and 50 to 60 percent for undried wood. (Btus is wasted on evaporating water.) Dry granular fuel is inert and non-toxic. It has an unlimited shelf life, and it doesn't harbor bacteria, fungi, bugs or mice. Its energy density is comparable to that of coal, but it does not produce as much ash as coal or wood. 
When the Great Depression hit, however, a decline in housing production and manufacturing dried up the supply of scrap wood chips, and the price of pellets doubled to $250 a ton. 
These stoves also need electricity to run the internal feeders and fans, so they won't keep you warm in the event of a power outage unless you have backup power. They are popular in Europe, where the heating season is short; The grain is easier to carry and store than wood.

Gas Fireplaces

Gas fireplaces can be effective space heaters. But they are certainly not an efficient way to heat with gas running at about 65% and the rest of the heat leaving up the flue.

A high-efficiency furnace can be up to 95% efficient, which is a much better way to get your heat. However, proper insulation and sealing are still more efficient.

Electric Fireplaces

All electric heaters are 100% efficient at converting electricity into heat; The difference is how efficiently they transfer heat to you. Electric heaters are much more effective than artificial fireplaces. 
An electric fireplace can achieve zero emissions, depending on where you are and how you get the electricity; If it's coal, like 47 percent of Americans, you're not burning clean fuel. If you're just looking good, you might want to put a real video of a raging fire on the big screen.

Ethanol Fireplaces

Ethanol fireplaces produce a real flame without a flue. That's because alcohol burns very cleanly, producing mostly water vapor and a small amount of carbon dioxide. But it does produce water vapor by taking oxygen from the air. 
That means the ethanol fireplace comes with a variety of safety features, such as a built-in CO2 detector that turns it off. They say, "Using bioethanol, an environmentally friendly renewable energy source, these fire Spaces do not produce smoke or smell. Biological fireplaces are the easiest way to appreciate a real fire." 
There are smaller units on your desk; These come with warnings and there should be adequate ventilation. But they can still be dangerous; According to the study: 
In general, ethanol does not burn out completely. Instead, the incineration process produces carbon dioxide - as well as toxic gases (such as carbon monoxide, a respiratory toxin), organic compounds (such as benzene, a carcinogen) and irritating gases (such as nitrogen dioxide and formaldehyde), as well as ultra-fine combustion particles.