Environmental Performance Comparison of Residential Wood and Pellets Stoves Using Live Cycle Assessment.

In residential decarbonization, biomass heating emerges as a strategic alternative to reduce fossil fuel dependence. However, classifying biomass as an intrinsically renewable resource does not automatically guarantee a net reduction in environmental impact. Selecting combustion technology is crucial to ensure energy efficiency and minimize local emissions. This study evaluates the environmental performance of two predominant residential biomass technologies: traditional natural-draft wood stoves and automated forced-draft pellet stoves.

A comparative Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was conducted following ISO 14040 and ISO 14044 standards. The functional unit was defined as 1 MJ of useful thermal energy supplied to guarantee technological neutrality. Computational modeling used SimaPro software and the Ecoinvent database. Impact assessment was structured using the ReCiPe 2016 Endpoint method to evaluate critical categories including global warming, fossil resource depletion, and human toxicity.

The results reveal clear environmental trade-offs. While the pellet stove demonstrates significantly superior performance in mitigating human toxicity and fine particulate matter formation thanks to its forced-draft system, reducing these impacts by 42% and 55% respectively compared to the natural-draft wood stove, it has a 35% greater impact on fossil resource depletion and freshwater eutrophication. This negative impact is directly attributed to the high energy intensity of the industrial pelleting phase, shifting the environmental burden from the operational to the manufacturing phase.

These findings provide essential data for policymakers and consumers, demonstrating that combustion technology is a determining factor, often more relevant than the fuel type. This study underscores the urgent need to optimize industrial processes and promote advanced combustion technologies that ensure complete combustion, alongside decarbonizing the fuel supply chain, to safeguard air quality and ensure a sustainable energy transition within environmental technologies, providing valuable information for future research and practical applications.