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Advice

Modern wood-burning boilers and stoves can burn wood very efficiently and can come with automated feed systems. This will help to keep the cost of running such a system lower, but it is still going to be more expensive than a natural gas heating system.

The automated-feed system works by you purchasing wood pellets and/or chippings from a supplier and then loading the pellets or chippings into a hopper. The hopper is attached to the boiler/stove which takes the pellets or chippings when more fuel is required.

One advantage is that it is possible to get a multi-fuel stoves that can burn logs for those romantic evenings. You can also burn 'paper logs,' which are created from old newspapers and burn for about an hour. If you get old newspapers (especially ones you didn't pay for) then this could be a way heating your home on the cheap. Burning low-grade paper that has a high content of recycled paper is more environmentally-friendly than burning fossil fuels.

Grants are available for wood burning boilers (that feed your central heating system) to the tune of around £1500 and stoves (room heater, preferably in the livingroom) at around £600. See the Low Carbon Buildings Programme website (link on the right).

As wood burning is not nearly as instantaneous as a natural gas heating system, it will most likely need to be used with a hot water tank. If this is the case then it will be easy to use this system along side a hot water solar panel, which will mean that less wood is required to be burnt.

Other Sustainable Considerations

Why not consider purchasing wood pellets or chippings from certified sustainable forestry, such as the Forrest Steward Council (FSC).

Consider purchasing a paper log maker as this will turn old newspapers into a cheap form of fuel, especially if you didn't buy the papers in the first place.