The World’s largest producer and consumer of officially accounted wood are the United States, although the country that possesses the greatest area of forest in Russia.

Wood is considered humankind’s very first source of energy. Today it is still the most important single source of renewable energy providing about 6 percent of the global total primary energy supply. Wood energy is also an important emergency backup fuel. …

Worldwide, one-half of all the wood that is cut down is used for fuel, while in many developing countries 90 percent is used for fuel. Sweden and Finland are world leaders in using wood as an energy source.

Modern woodfuel combustion technologies are clean and efficient. Given rising prices of fossil fuels, switching to woodfuel can actually reduce fuel bills. So long as forests are sustainably managed, woodfuel provides a renewable source of energy.

Russia

Much wood fuel comes from native forests around the world. Plantation wood is rarely used for firewood, as it is more valuable as timber or wood pulp, however, some wood fuel is gathered from trees planted amongst crops, also known as agroforestry.

Wood smoke is also bad for the outdoors environment, contributing to smog, acid rain and other problems. One greener alternative to burning firewood in a fireplace is to burn wood pellets, which are made from sawdust and other lumber byproducts that would have otherwise been landfilled and gone to waste.

Natural gas is a fairly inexpensive form of energy, so a gas fireplace is inexpensive to run. Gas fireplaces cost 17-19 cents an hour to run, or about $60 annually, Electric Fireplaces Direct says. Wood-burning fireplaces cost about $190 annually to produce a number of BTUs similar to a gas fireplace.

A wood burning stove can be worth it alone for the increased heat output from your fires compared to using open wood burning fireplaces, and you’ll save on firewood costs in the long run because you can control the fire more effectively in a wood stove to burn more slowly and efficiently.

Wood-Burning Emissions Threaten Lung Health Emissions from wood smoke, discussed below, can cause coughing, wheezing, asthma attacks, heart attacks, lung cancer, and premature death, among other health effects. Many of these pollutants can worsen air quality indoors and outdoors.

Catalyst

Your premiums will likely increase if you have a wood-burning or pellet stove, but the increase is usually insignificant. It’s possible that your insurer may treat your wood stove like a space heater or similar heating appliance. If this is the case, having a wood stove may not increase your premiums.

Does a wood burning stove affect insurance premiums? Yes, it can and will typically run from 0% to5% depending on the company. Fortunately, there are several steps you can take to reduce the amount of increase along with reducing the risk to your home.

A woodburning stove or fireplace can increase your home insurance premium by about 10% or $100 a year depending on which insurance provider you’re with. You can choose to keep it a bit lower by having a higher deductible and making sure you are not paying for features you don’t need.

Owners of wood burners, stoves and open fires will no longer be able to buy house coal or wet wood, under a ban to be rolled out from next year. Sales of the two most polluting fuels will be phased out in England to help cut air pollution, the government says.

Yes – Open fires and fireplaces will no longer be able to be sold as solid fuel heating appliances after 2022.

Log burners and open fires are not being banned, but the government says people will have to buy dry wood or manufactured solid fuels which produce less smoke. It says both options are just as easy to source and more efficient to burn, making them much cleaner and more cost effective.

Do You Need Planning Permission to Install a Wood Burning Stove? If you fit your stove yourself, or have a non-HETAS installer do the job, you will need to tell your local Building Control department before you start any work. This isn’t strictly planning permission, but is a necessary step.