Wood Smoke and Fireplaces

The smell of wood smoke fills the air this time of year.  When you live in an area with abundant trees, I suppose it is to be expected.  To me, it seems barely cold enough for an open fire in the fireplace, although I have always found them to be attractive, both visually and as a way to warm yourself after coming in from the cold outside.

We didn't have a fireplace growing up; instead, we had what I recall as panel-ray wall heaters.  They were natural gas, or propane fueled and mounted in the wall.  They were great to back up to and warm yourself, or as a child, lie on the floor in front of while watching the television.

Once they moved to town, Grandma and Grandpa had a fireplace.  They usually didn't light it unless company was coming over.  It was always the first place I'd go after saying my "hellos" to everyone -- over to stand in front of the fire and visit with Grandpa across the room in his recliner.  I think he enjoyed watching the flames dance among the logs.  Sometimes he would have me bring in more wood, or stir the fire to get a better flame going.

When we lived in Nebraska we had a couple of fireplaces.  The house we live in now actually has a couple of fireplaces.  The house was built in 1956, but sometime later, the chimney's were capped and the roof extended over where they once stood so that now, the fireplaces are merely decorative.  I have thought at times it might be good to re-build those chimneys and open up the fireplaces.

Years ago we went to a Shaker Village in Kentucky.  The main hall was a multi-floor building full of fireplaces.  I can't begin to imagine how much wood was required to keep them going all of the time.  Those fireplaces were the only source of heat, but also the location of the cooking activities which went on from before dawn until darkness every day of the year.

No one cooks their food in the fireplace anymore.  Now they are as much for ambiance as anything.  They aren't necessary for heat and in fact often allow more heat to escape when not in use than they produce while burning.  Most of them weren't particularly efficient.

Some places have banned construction of fireplaces in new homes.  Politicians in those places have fully accepted the idea that burning wood is bad for the environment.  I have to admit the smoke can sometimes make breathing a bit unpleasant.  Their concern is for the release of carbon into the atmosphere and the resulting impact toward global warming.  I don't think they quite understand how that particular carbon has been released and recycled for thousands of years in the carbon cycle.  The crazy thing is how those politicians fly around the country in their jets which release carbon from fossil fuels which is carbon that has been taken out of the carbon cycle until released back in by those flights.  I just shake my head at their behavior.