Some comments regarding the above contributors.
I have spent my life so far ( 59 years) with open fires or multi-fuel stoves as a primary source of heating , and have worked for an "AGA/Rayburn " shop/installer. Firstly---I bought one of those newspaper briquette-makers about 10 years ago,& it was VERY labour-intensive.!! You need a dedicated area to work in,preferably with good drainage : an old bath ,or similar large container : Millions of sheets of newsprint : considerable physical stamina : a large,secure,dry,storage area for the finished product :or several domestic servants !. You shred the paper ( no glossy magazines),you add it to a large quantity of water in the bath or whatever ( Do NOT USE the bath in your bathroom---it/ you will turn black !!) ; you dollop the resulting pulp into the machine ,and press on the handles with some force. VAST quantities of filthy water now run EVERYWHERE.You then carefully remove the still-sodden paper brick from the machine, and put it,along with its fellows,in the HOT SUN to dry.After a day or so, you collect up the briquettes in your oddly -coloured arms,and lay them out on racks in your specially-constructed & heated & ventilated storage area. After about a year,you run low on coal/wood during a cold spell; AHA !! you cry,triumphantly. You go outside, and collect a load of yellow & unpleasant-lookin bricks. Each one weighs about 1 micro-gram, and you just KNOW it is going to burn up in 2 minutes.As you walk indoors,half of them crumble away to dust,and several spiders run inside your shirt. DON"T BUY ONE-PLEASE !!! Of course,they MAY have improved ----but ??
Secondly----In the UK, there are several drip-feed oil-burning stoves that do not need electricity in order to operate ;they are popular with people who live on boats,of which there are many in England.In the near future,much greater interest will result in greatly -increased production of "bio-Diesel" which is ,in essence, the oil of the Rape-seed plant,refined,cleaned,filtered and mixed with some methanol or similar substance,on which these stoves could run cheaply.Or go catch a Sperm Whale !!
Third---There has never been such a wide range of solid fuel (wood,coal,coke,anthracite,) stoves available.Even some of the smallest now have glass-lined boilers which can feed a small radiator or two, and on which one can cook.Some have built-in ovens,for example ,and hot-plate covers,(like an Aga) and at least one I know of has a large block of cast-iron that fits inside the top oven,and acts like a storage-radiator at night when the stove is out ( NOT a good idea to keep a stove going at night on a boat----lots of people have died from CO poisoning in their sleep).Up until 2 years ago, I lived for 8 years with a small "Stovax BRUNEL " wood-burner that was super-efficient & easy to clean & maintain.We NEVER paid for ANY wood !! We collected drift-wood from the beach---We were given wood by people who had,say,felled a tree in their garden----We went a whole winter with the frames of our old windows when we had double-glazing put in----We collected pine-cones from the nearby forest( DON"T USE green ones,your flue will RUN with sap !!) and--we burned HUNDREDS of hardwood " stretchers" from COFFINS (my partner"s dad was an undertaker !! ) and we went to furniture-makers and asked for all their off-cuts !! So,with a little imagination......!!!Then ,of course,you need to cut & store it, but hey !! Who said life was easy ??
If anyone is interested,I can find out about any particular stove,or tell you about the ones I know about ----I have even fitted small wood-burning stoves into camper-vans !! I can get you one made out of a camping-gas cylinder even !!