The Scottish Government has confirmed that wood burning stoves can still be installed in new houses but only “to provide emergency heating, where a need can be justified.” Changes to the building standards – the regulations governing the requirements for all building in Scotland – came in last week, forbidding the use of ‘direct emission heating systems.’ Effectively, that means that new houses and conversions are not allowed to use gas or oil boilers, or any form of bioenergy where electricity or heat is generated from organic matter such as wood. Instead, housebuilders are expected to use what are known as ‘zero DEH’ systems such as heat pumps, solar thermal storage systems or electric storage heaters. …A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Heating our homes and buildings represents about a fifth of Scotland’s carbon emissions so tackling the climate emergency requires us to address these emissions.