Log burners, also known as wood-burning stoves, seem like they should be sustainable - but they're not.
They produce extremely high levels of toxic air pollution, and reduce the number of CO2-reducing trees in the world.
The CO2-absorbing powers of these trees can't be replaced for at least 10 years, and often not for 40 years.
In this guide, we'll explain how and why they're bad for the environment, as well as your potential next steps.
Low efficiency
To make things even worse, log burners come with relatively low efficiency ratings.
New models must legally be at least 75%, but this is considerably lower than gas boilers - which hover around 95%, on average - and heat pumps, which usually come with at least 300% efficiency.
This means that for every unit of wood thrown into a log burner, 0.75 units of heat comes out - which is clearly a bad rate.
Do log burners cause global warming?
Log burners absolutely contribute to global warming.
They release twice as much CO2 as gas boilers, which increases when households burn wet wood.
Log burners also emit 465 as much PM2.5 as gas heating, which exacerbates global warming too, as well as causing multiple health problems for people in the surrounding areas.
What are the negatives of a log burner?
The biggest negatives of a log burner are that it's bad for your air quality, it massively contributes to climate change, and it requires you to carefully maintain your wood supply.
The toxic air pollution that a log burner emits is bad for your health and the planet's health - and it produces 465 times more of it than a gas boiler does.
Are wood burners worse than open fires?
Wood burners aren't worse than open fires when it comes to air pollution.
Older wood burner models were almost as bad as open fires, but modern wood burners must meet the European Union's Ecodesign standards.
This means new wood burners release eight times less toxic particles than old models - but they still emit 465 times more than gas boilers.
