• Wood burning provides advantages over coal burning mainly in convenience and renewability and is also better for the environment.chopped wood image by Stefano Tiraboschi from Fotolia.com
  
  Coal is a non-renewable resource that takes millions of years to create. Coal is mainly used to generate electricity, but is also used in manufacturing and the creation of steel and concrete. The Environmental Information Agency states that wood was the main form of energy in the United States until the mid-1800s, but is currently used mostly for individual wood stoves and provides only 2 percent of the energy currently used.
  
  

Renewability

• Unlike coal, wood is a renewable resource as long as forests are maintained to provide adequate trees to farm. A dependency on coal is not feasible in the long-term as mines will eventually run out of resources.
  
  

Environmental Effects

• The Environmental Protection Agency defines coal as a fossil fuel. The burning of fossil fuels emits various amounts of waste into the air and land. The EPA states that physical waste does not need to be managed except in cases of landfills and surface impoundment. However, coal also emits sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxides, particulates, carbon dioxide and mercury, all of which can affect weather patterns, atmosphere and human health. Coal mining can also pollute nearby natural water reserves and the surrounding land.
  
  While wood does emit levels of pollutants such as carbon monoxide and particle matter, special clean-burning technology can be added to wood stoves to lessen harmful pollutants.
  
  

Ease

• Coal fires are significantly more difficult to start than wood fires as they require a strict, specific procedure or else the fire will extinguish. Once the fire does begin to extinguish, it cannot be resuscitated. Unlike wood fires, which can burn safely at any time as long as the stove and chimney are fully functional, a coal fire cannot be started until the outside temperature falls below 55 degrees Fahrenheit on an everyday schedule because the chimney will not be able to develop sufficient draft.