The benefits of using wood to heat your house are growing all the time; if you’ll excuse the pun.
Whether it is by using a stove to heat a room with a vent taking some of the heat elsewhere, or using a boiler stove to heat water for radiators, or a full biomass system. The benefits of doing so are getting more and more obvious.
With all the wild weather we have been experienced this year, global warming is clearly a reality, and anything we can do to limit it or not make it any worse; has to be good. Using less of our fossil fuels to warm our homes is a major step in the right direction, especially when by burning these fuels we are putting more carbon into the atmosphere.
We all need to heat and light our homes, and so if the fuel we use to do so is easily replaced, and replaced in a way that cleans the atmosphere, it makes environmental sense. When this is coupled with the fact that wood is essentially the cheapest fuel we can burn, at around 4p per kW hour; it makes economic sense as well.
By using a hot water tank that incorporates a solar coil you can save money by incorporating some solar thermal alongside PV panels to heat water and generate electricity, thereby reducing the amount you take from the national grid. This is turn means that your carbon foot print is less as you help to reduce the amount of carbon produced by power stations. A fact that you get paid for through the feed in tariff.
When you install a boiler stove that can only burn wood, then you make a saving on the VAT as well, since you pay 5% VAT as opposed to 20%; which means more savings.
The best way to save yourself from rising energy costs is to fully utilize the cheapest fuel and install a biomass system. Not only are you using an easily renewable resource that cleans the environment as it grows, but you get paid well to do so through the Renewable Heat Incentive.
All in all heating with wood makes senses.