As an alternative to heating a room using gas or electricity, using a wood burning stove or log burner has many advantages regarding sustainability.
Firstly, a point that is often overlooked, firewood is a renewable energy source! Although it does take many years for trees to grow, this is insignificant when compared to fossil fuels such as coal and gas that have taken millions of years to form.
The carbon footprint of fuels is another consideration. Whereas the carbon stored in fossil fuels is only released when gas and coal are burned, the carbon stored in trees would also be released when tree, leaves and branches decompose.
By growing as many trees as we use for firewood, we can do our bit to make the use of wood burning stoves carbon neutral.