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Wood a good source of renewable energy

Even if burning wood seems antiquated to some, it is in fact one of the best renewable energy sources of the future.

Dear Editor:

Even if burning wood seems antiquated to some (Fireplace pollutes the air, Summerland Review, Jan. 22) it is in fact one of the best renewable energy sources of the future.

While at the Summerland dump we pay to bring large equipment to turn our wood waste into chips, in Europe that waste is used to warm up homes and even create electricity.

Canada has a lot of wood waste and unmarketable trees in its forests. We could learn to use this renewable resource to energize our future and create jobs.

So while it may be annoying to see wood fire smoke, if better wood stoves and furnaces were made available to home owners, there would be less wood wasted, less smoke and more  jobs (gathering the “junk” wood, manufacturing wood pellets to fuel wood stoves, manufacturing wood stoves, shipping etc.)

Don’t take my word for it.  Type “wood into energy in France or Germany or Sweden”  in your search engine and you will find tons of information on the subject, as well as neat videos of the innovations in their neck of the woods.

This is not done at the expense of air quality.

Emissions standards are a lot higher in Europe than in most of North America (California has been leading that fight too.)

We need to get our heads out of the tar sands and back into the forests.

Andre Fagant

Summerland