Heating values for common Newfoundland woods

Each different type of wood has the same amount of energy per kilogram (or per pound), so the heavier the wood the more energy per standard volume (per cord, for example). If a junk of fir and a junk of birch are the same weight, the junk of birch has about 75% more energy in it than the junk of fir.

An important example to remember: 1 cord of birch has the same heating value (energy) as approximately 110 gallons (500 litres) of heating oil.

Here's a list of the firewoods in Newfoundland, best to worst, with the best at the top and the worst at the bottom:

Yellow birch - 705 kgs per cubic metre
White birch -
Pin cherry
Larch, juniper, tamarack - 500 kgs per cubic metre
White spruce
Black spruce - 410 kgs per cubic metre
Balsam fir - 350 kgs per cubic metre

Another important point to remember: wood is CO2 neutral. The amount of CO2 that wood needs to grow is equal to the amount of CO2 that's released when the wood is burned. This is unlike burning oil where extra CO2 is released into the atmosphere (the CO2 that was trapped in oil when it was formed millions of years ago).