It appears that most of the worlds wood burning stoves are terrible for health but that doesn’t mean that there can’t be options that do much better at removing smoke.
The good Norwegian ones, cast iron, burn almost all the fuel in a single log and put out an immense amount of heat, and are perfectly safe if they're vented properly. It's almost as close as you can get to perfection in terms of safety and efficiency. The only downside is it's damn hard to control the heat. (So work on your wok stir fry skills).
I think the point is just generally pretty efficient.
If you are interested in technicalities:
- 5-15% loss in power transporting energy [1]
- 30-40% efficiency of natural gas turbines (where most power comes from, 2nd highest is coal; which is worse)[2]
- 80% efficiency induction heating [3]
- in all likelihood (haven’t done math). The heat lost from wood stove cooking heats your house and cooks your food with a renewable resource. It’s likely more efficient than induction.
I’m installing a wood burning and an electric stove in my current house.