The truth about ‘miracle’ heaters and wood stoves

This roundup of The Conversation’s climate coverage was first published in our award-winning weekly climate action newsletter, Imagine.

Each year, as temperatures drop, the same promises resurface. A tiny heater that can warm your whole home for pennies. A simple hack using candles and flowerpots. A wood-burning stove that’s cosy, clean and cheap.

Some of these fixes are outright scams. Some are just dangerous. Others work, but with hidden costs most don’t know about.

All of them run into the realities of physics, pollution or safety.

Wood-burning stoves are becoming more popular and I can see the appeal. When visiting my in-laws in rural Dorset, I sometimes work from a shepherd’s hut in their garden, which is heated with a wood stove. I like the sense of control and the boom-and-bust cycle of warmth caused by loading firewood every hour or two.

The real fire feels dependable in a way that modern systems sometimes don’t. It feels traditional. And, increasingly, it is presented as environmentally acceptable.

But beneath the romance and the cosiness there is an uncomfortable truth. Domestic burning is now recognised as a leading source of PM2.5, one of the most harmful forms of air pollution.

The UK does regulate wood stove emissions, but under a

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