Woodburner sales soar by 40% in energy crisis
THEY appear to belong to a bygone age but have become trendy in recent years.
Now, with the cost of gas and electricity rocketing, sales of woodburning stoves have leapt by 40 per cent.
More than 35,000 stoves were sold from April to June compared to 25,000 for the same quarter of 2021, industry figures show.
The Stove Industry Alliance, which represents manufacturers, said the sharp rise ‘clearly indicates that consumers are taking action to help cushion themselves against spiralling home heating bills’. The stoves can cost from around £300 to more than £4,000. SIA chairman Andy Hill said: ‘With the cost for heating our homes accounting for the biggest chunk of home energy bills this winter, it is little wonder consumers are looking for alternatives to supplement their gas or electric heating.’ The SIA said newer stoves are 90 per cent less polluting than an open fire.
But Government figures show that stoves emit more particulate pollution – the deadliest form – than road transport.
Around 17 per cent of particulate pollution comes from burning wood compared to 13 per cent from road transport. Professor Gary Fuller, of Imperial College London, told New Scientist: ‘It is important that vulnerable people are helped to keep warm this winter, but extra woodburning is not the answer.
‘It will worsen the existing air pollution problems in our cities, towns and even across the countryside in the UK and Europe.’
Simon Birkett, of campaign group Clean Air In London, called on the Government ‘to help people to insulate their homes so they don’t feel the need to burn wood.’ He stressed that climate experts’ advice is ‘that wood burning appliances should be phased out’.