When we discuss air quality during the heating season, the difference between gas and wood heating turns out to be not just significant, but colossal. According to the European EMEP/EEA Emission Inventory Guidebook 2023, an ordinary gas boiler emits only 0.2 grams of PM2.5 particles per gigajoule (GJ) of energy produced. Meanwhile, a traditional wood stove produces 740 grams of the same particles per unit of energy. This means that one stove in an evening pollutes the air as much as 3,700 gas boilers operating simultaneously. Even modern high-efficiency stoves remain a powerful source of pollution at 370 g/GJ.
These figures find direct confirmation in daily monitoring. With the onset of cold weather, pollution graphs begin to mirror people's behavior: sharp PM2.5 peaks are recorded precisely during those hours when residents actively heat—early morning and especially in the evening after returning from work. In calm weather, dense smog forms over the city. The situation is exacerbated by the fact that homes with stove heating are often less energy-efficient, requiring more fuel for heating, creating a vicious circle: the house cools quickly, the stove is heated more intensively, and emission volumes grow even more.
The practice of burning household waste, plastic, or furniture scraps made from chipboard in stoves poses a special danger. In addition to huge amounts of soot, toxic dioxins (PCDD/F) and carcinogens such as benzo(a)pyrene are released into the air. The temperatures in an ordinary stove are insufficient for their destruction, turning a residential area into an environmental disaster zone. The data is based on official EMEP/EEA tables (EMEP/EEA Air Pollutant Emission Inventory Guidebook 2023), used by experts worldwide. Unfortunately, the author has personally encountered people who consider this furniture as "clean" as ordinary firewood.
For me personally, these statistics cast serious doubt on the effectiveness of exclusively "point-source" pollution control. Certainly, monitoring large enterprises and transport is important, but it cannot radically solve the problem where thousands of homes use stoves. The scale of the difference (3,700 times!) indicates that no half-measures will produce the needed result. Only systemic solutions, such as direct subsidization of the transition to gas heating, can truly and quickly clean the air we breathe every winter.