Charcoal is a better fuel than wood because of the following reasons:

(i) Charcoal has better calorific value than wood, i.e., charcoal produces more heat on burning than an equal mass of wood.

(ii) Charcoal does not produce smoke while burning whereas wood produces a lot of smoke on burning and pollutes the air.

(iii) Charcoal is a compact fuel which is easy to handle and convenient to use.

Disadvantages of converting wood into charcoal:

Cutting down of trees in the forests has created the shortage of wood to prepare sufficient charcoal. As a result of this, charcoal has now become expensive fuel. Hence the use of charcoal as a fuel is discouraged so as to prevent deforestation and hence to conserve the ecosystem from the ill effects of deforestation.