It's hard to know how much wood you need until you try out your heating system. A well-insulated house may use 2-3 full cords of hardwood and a little softwood every year. In comparison, a smaller contemporary stone home with no insulation could use 6 full cords. An inefficient outdoor boiler may use 3-4 times more wood than a high-efficiency indoor stove. The general rule of thumb is to purchase more than your heating needs. If your wood is covered, it can last at least 3 years without rotting. You won't be wasting your money.

Wood heating is definitely messier than electricity or natural gas heating. Wood dust, ashes and wood chips will all be carried into and out of your home. If you are concerned about your white shag carpet, then wood heating is not for you! Place your stove close to the wood storage area and near a door to maintain as much cleanliness as possible. Tile flooring makes cleaning up easier.

Modern stoves have integral ash buckets which ease ash removal. You need to clean the ash bucket twice weekly during heating season as the contents can fill 2-3 big garbage cans. The ashes can be reused on icy roads, garden soil or fields.

There is an argument that wood heating shifts the source of pollution away from the 'clean-burning' stove onto the chainsaw and splitter. It is more important to manage your environmental impact with the right attitude, tools and supplies. The ideal method for lowering energy use in harvesting wood, no matter what tool or method is used, is to lower your consumption of wood. A well-constructed, energy-efficient home with the best wood heater can reduce wood consumption by 2-3 times.

Good wood management is also important: consult the local forestry management body to ensure good harvesting practices.

If you will be using gasoline-powered tools, think about these options:

• Use chainsaws or any gas-fueled tools with catalytic converters that will lower emissions.
• Avoid small 2-stroke engines that can spew out oil and air pollutants.
• Use eco-friendly biodegradable oil or grease for your chainsaw. Such oil vaporizes during sawing, producing an oil-based aerosol. Health is also better protected with such biodegradable products.
• Never leave engines idling – on or off only (this is also safer).
• Ethanol-based gasoline can lower carbon dioxide emissions.

You may not totally eliminate your energy needs and the related pollution from wood harvesting but a significant reduction is possible with some care and attention.