Thread by @Telegraph

🔥Wood-burning stoves are among the most lusted-after interiors items.

But while they might feel an eco-alternative to central heating, they’re actually not that green after all.

Should you get rid of yours altogether?

Thread 🧵👇
telegraph.co.uk/interiors/home…

More than one million UK homes use wood-burning stoves and fireplaces according to the Stove Industry Alliance.

➡️But even stoves which adhere to the EU rules are allowed to emit 750 times more tiny particle pollution than a modern HGV truck

🌏Along with what is being released into the environment, there is the issue of health.

A recent University of Sheffield study found that stoves triple the level of harmful pollution inside homes
telegraph.co.uk/interiors/home…

The particles are especially harmful to the more delicate lungs of older and younger people.

🗣️“Burning wood and coal in a stove or on an open fire releases PM 2.5, the most worrying form of air pollution to human health,” says Eluned Hughes
telegraph.co.uk/interiors/home…

♨️Emissions from other heat sources, are much lower than even the newest and most efficient wood stoves.

This includes heat pumps, district heating, oil boilers and even gas boilers, which the Government wants to phase out

🟢Another promising option is bioethanol fires, which burn ethanol – a renewable and green fuel derived from the fermentation of crops and food waste
telegraph.co.uk/interiors/home…

✖️If you still can’t give up your wood burner, there are ways to limit the damage.

Aside from using it less, logs with moisture content below 20% are best and you should load it up quickly to avoid exposure

☕️One solution could be recycled coffee grounds converted into “logs” which burn 20% hotter and longer than kiln-dried wood.

– but be warned, they have quite a distinct smell

🔥Now there's finally a pleasing nip in the air it will be tempting to light a fire.

But maybe you should reach for a woolly jumper instead.

Read the full story 👇
telegraph.co.uk/interiors/home…