Clean Air and Comfort for Your Home – Replace your old wood burning stove and save
If it's time to upgrade your old wood burning appliance to a cleaner burning unit there's an opportunity available to save some money.
While funds last the Regional Air Quality program’s Wood Stove Exchange is offering rebates of $250 when customers purchase a new, cleaner burning EPA/CSA certified woodstove, and recycle their old, polluting wood burning appliance. Participating Central Okanagan retailers will take care of recycling your old stove and provide all the necessary paperwork for the rebates.
In addition to the $250 rebate, during March and April participating retailers may offer an additional rebate of $150 or more off the suggested retail price of new wood burning appliances. Some retailers may extend the additional rebates for the entire year, so be sure to check with your local retailer for more information. For those wanting to exchange their old wood burning stove or insert for a gas appliance, Fortis BC is offering an additional $300 rebate for eligible EnerChoice gas fireplaces.
Since 2001, more than 650 Central Okanagan homeowners have taken advantage of the rebate program and exchanged their old stoves for cleaner burning models. Smoke from wood burning produces particulate matter, one of the main pollutants that leads to poor air quality and can have serious health impacts. It’s estimated over 12,000 valley homes are still equipped with inefficient conventional wood stoves or masonry fireplaces, adding a lot of smoke pollution.
Regional Air Quality Program Coordinator Nancy Mora Castro says, “Smoke from inefficient wood fireplaces and stoves contributes to poor air quality throughout the Central Okanagan. By replacing old wood burning appliances with newer, cleaner-burning certified technology homeowners can use up to one-third less wood and reduce smoke by up to 90 per cent. That will help us all breathe a little easier.”
To take part in the program, visit one of the participating retailers in the Regional District of Central Okanagan, or contact the Regional Air Quality Program for more information. A list of participating retailers can be found at regionaldistrict.com/airquality.
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3 responses
Well, changing out your unfiltered cigarettes with filtered is probably better, but if that’s what you’re doing, don’t kid yourself, you’re still smoking.A cleaner burning wood appliance is better, but still a source of serious pollution both for you and the rest of your neighborhood.Time for every one to acknowledge that burning wood is as much of an anachronism as allowing smoking in public places.All wood smoke is very toxic.
If you have gas, then USE IT. Wood burning in crowded areas is abuse.
Claims that old stoves are much more polluting than new ones is a con by people who want to promote wood heating.In reality, most new stoves emit about 10 grams per hour and old stoves average about 14 – so the real reduction is about 29%, nothing like the “up to 90%” claimed here!In Libby, Montana, huge sums (over $2.5 million) was spent replacing 1130 stoves to achieve a 28% reduction in pollution in a town of 2,600 residents.Even after all the old stoves had been replaced, Libby had many days with of very unhealthy pollution – woodsmoke.3sc.net/ahha-tactics#libby.Using wood heating leads to many unnecessary health problems from heart attacks, strokes, cancers, respiratory diseases, genetic damage in babies, increased risk of autism and behavioral problems, reduced IQ when children start school etc etc.The average passenger car emits about 20 grams of PM2.5 per year – the average new stove emits 20 to 40 kg per year, so it is 1,000 to 2,000 times more polluting – woodsmoke.3sc.net/cleancarbenefits.The methane and carbon monoxide emissions from new wood stoves also cause more global warming than other forms of heating.The UN recommended phasing out log-burning stoves in developed countries to reduce global warming as well as improve health – environmentprogress.com/key-research-articles/australian-wood-heaters-currently-increase-global-warming-and-health-costs.The American Lung Association (ALA) recommends not using wood heating http://www.lung.org/associations/states/california/for-the-media/american-lung-association-in-16.html.If you care about your health and care about the planet – follow the advice of the health experts in the ALA!