| |
What is the National Warm Homes Campaign?
It is a national campaign managed by the Ministry for the Environment and aimed at improving the home heating methods of New Zealanders to reduce air pollution and keep people warm.
What is the Tokoroa doing about it?
The South Waikato District Council, Environment Waikato, Waikato District Health Board and Raukawa Trust Board applied to the Sustainable Management Fund, managed by the Ministry for the Environment, for funding to develop and implement an awareness campaign in Tokoroa called Warm Homes Clean Air.
This project involves a general awareness campaign for the people of Tokoroa including the elderly, schools, low socio-economic groups, Maori, Pacific Island people, landlords and businesses or retailers.
The awareness campaign started in November last year and will run through until May or June this year. The campaign will be evaluated through interviews with project partners, focus groups with the target audiences and possibly through a telephone survey.
What is the problem?
The problem is simple. Most home owners in Tokoroa use a wood burner as their primary source of home heating. It is the older wood burners and the way we use our wood burners that is creating the problem. Wood burners create smoke, this smoke contains tiny particles (called PM10s) that are too small to see and small enough to enter our lungs. This creates health problems.
What are the National Environmental Standards?
The National Environmental Standards are national regulations designed to protect public health. They include a design standard for wood burners in urban areas and set a standard for the maximum allowable level of small particles in the air we breathe.
Why does New Zealand need a wood burner standard?
The presence of small particles in the air is linked to sickness and hospitalisation due to a range of health impacts including respiratory symptoms, heart problems and premature death.
In New Zealand – and in Tokoroa – 80 to 90% of the fine particles in the air come from the burning of wood or coal for home heating. In many urban areas, including Tokoroa, the maximum allowable level of these small particles is exceeded during winter time.
What is the wood burner standard?
All wood burners installed after 1 September 2005 must have:
- an emission rate of less than 1.5 grams of particles per kilogram of dry wood burnt; and
- a thermal efficiency of greater than 65%.
How do I choose an approved wood burner?
The Ministry for the Environment’s website has a list of approved wood burners: www.mfe.govt.nz.
Email the Ministry for the Environment: standards@mfe.govt.nz
Telephone the Ministry: 0800 AIR NES
What has already been done in Tokoroa?
Last year 12 homes in Tokoroa participated in the Warm Homes Pilot Project. During last winter, tests for emissions were conducted on these 12 homes. All 12 homes were then retrofitted with new systems, from new wood burners and pellet burners to heat pumps and other systems. This past winter, these were again emission tested. The results of this second round of tests will soon be available.
Is Tokoroa unique?
No, Christchurch, Dunedin, Nelson, Taupo and Timaru all have similar problems. Without air quality monitoring stations it is not possible to say for sure how widespread the problem is, but it is thought that many New Zealand urban areas exceed acceptable levels of these small particles.
Environment Waikato, for instance, will be installing four new monitoring stations over the course of the next three years. Putaruru is one of the areas that has just received an air quality monitoring station and the project team are keen to see the results from this station and compare these with Tokoroa.
Who is going to pay for this?
Primarily the cost of home heating is the home owner or tenant’s responsibility but, because of the need for quite rapid change there is justification for arranging or offering help to those who need it.
Some centres with very bad air quality problems, such as Christchurch and Nelson, are a little further advanced with devising assistance, particularly packages for low-income families. There are a number of options that will be considered for the Tokoroa community, including low-interest loans, special purchasing arrangements and possible some sort of subsidy scheme.
The decisions around this have yet to be made.
What can I do now?
Ideally you can change your old wood burner to a cleaner heating system, or if you like your wood burner, change to a new approved one. Can everyone do this? No, but there are many other ways to ensure that you use your wood burner effectively. See Warm Homes Clean Air Flyer 5: Best Practice for Wood burners. It will tell you how to get the most from your wood burner while having the least negative effects on the air quality.
How much difference can New Zealand really make to world air pollution?
The aim of this project is not to have an impact on world air quality. It is more localised. The aim of the national Warm Homes project is to improve the air quality of New Zealand for the health benefits of New Zealanders.
Who to contact for more information?
For more information please contact the South Waikato District Council on 885 0340.
Visit the Council website at www.southwaikato.govt.nz
Visit the Ministry for the Environment at www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/air/
Visit Environment Waikato at www.ew.govt.nz/enviroinfo/air/
|
|
