2 March 2011

Simon Corbell wants your wood fired heater

| johnboy
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With his Environment hat on Simon Corbell is entreating the wood fired homeowners of Canberra to take up his $600 rebate and get rid of their dark satanic fires.

Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water, Simon Corbell has today encouraged Canberrans to replace their wood heaters this winter with a new natural gas heater.

Mr Corbell made the comment while launching the 2011 wood heater replacement program.

“Wood smoke has a detrimental impact on air quality in the ACT, particularly in the Tuggeranong Valley, and this program is an important way that individual households can help to protect our environment,” Mr Corbell said.

Since the program launched in 2004 894 wood heaters have been removed.

Has all the low hanging fruit been picked? Or are there any wood fired folks out there considering making the switch in the next few weeks before it comes time to fire up old smokey?

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Gas isn’t healthy if you have asthma, gas dries the air out, anyway their is no rebate if you are on a pension with gas, whereas electricity you get a rebate.

Wood fires are fine if people only used seasoned, dry wood instead of young, green fuel. During the winter months, the smell and smoke in my local suburb is revolting because people have no idea about using the right stuff. I also suspect their chimneys/flues also need a thorough cleaning. This is why the government has been pushing us to go gas.

I had an actual open fireplace – even smokier than a closed wood heater. I called about this last year as we were renovating. Got told no as there was nothing they could take away.

There appears to be an extraneous $ in the OP JB.

The relative merits of burning Natural Gas (a fossil fuel which has to be extracted, refined and shipped great distances) or Wood (depending on how sourced, potentially renewable, local and carbon neutral) is something the could be debated at length. But it is true that the air quality in the Tuggeranong Valley, on a cold winter morning with an inversion layer keeping the smoke in, can get pretty bad.

Interesting that the rebate seems to only apply to swapping for Gas? That is a little short sighted isn’t it? I know that currently electric heating might just be coal heating from a distance, but at our grid power is sourced more and more from renewables, gas will start to look less and less like the smart option.

Captain RAAF10:08 am 02 Mar 11

I have a wood heater in my pergola. The gummint will take that off me the same day they take my guns, from my cold dead hands.

Always plenty of fuel around to fire the old girl up in winter to keep me and the missus toasty warm when we leap out of the spa for the dash inside.

It will also come in handy should there ever be massive power blackouts and you can’t just flick a switch to get warm. Keep your wood heaters, people, you and your family huddled together under a blanket freezing to death is just one zombie apocalypse away!

Chaz said :

how utterly ludicrous. a natural gas heater would have to be far worse for the environment than a fire place (if you look at how natural gas is extracted).

i’m sick of this “pay for pollution” b.s.

maybe, but its not our (canberran) environment that is damaged by natural gas extraction. Isnt that how it works – when you get wealthy enough, you ship all the dirty things to someone else?

how utterly ludicrous. a natural gas heater would have to be far worse for the environment than a fire place (if you look at how natural gas is extracted).

i’m sick of this “pay for pollution” b.s.

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