Heating the home is a necessary expense, but there are options available concerning the type of material used. Although fossil fuels are the most popular choice, they are not sustainable as well as a harm to the environment. Oil, for example, is becoming significantly more difficult to locate and extract, and with the population rising and the rate of production falling, the supply is soon to run out. A much cheaper solution is to use wood pellets or briquettes in a thermostat controlled wood burner to heat the home. Made from sawdust compressed into small pellets, this is both a renewable and sustainable source of energy. More information about this process and its benefits can be found at Forest Stewardship Council.

The wood pellets are produced using locally sourced timber from within the UK, which means it is especially eco-friendly because there is no requirement for an excessive amount of extra energy to be used in transportation and delivery, whereas this would be a problem with imported timber. Similarly, the process of pellet manufacturing exerts much less energy than, for example, the extraction of oil. Because of this, wood is a lot cheaper to buy, which means that the purchase of an efficient wood burner is a worthy investment when considering the long term benefits, both personally and in terms of the impact on the environment.

Buying a stove that is controlled by a thermostat will mean that the level of wood pellets used is internally monitored. This means that the wood pellets will be fed into the combustion chamber according to the level of heat required, resulting in an efficient heating system that is friendly to the environment because of the smoke produced and the pellets not being wasted. This is also cost effective for the user because wasted pellets would be an extra expense, and a new supply would need to be bought more often than necessary.