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Warm Up the Holidays with a Discount
on a Natural Gas Log Set
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December 14, 2011
AQMD Offers Consumers up to $200 to Convert
Wood-Burning Fireplaces to Gas Logs
Just in time for the holidays and winter weather, the AQMD is offering
residents a discount of up to $200 to convert their existing wood-burning
fireplace to a clean-burning gas log set.
AQMD’s Healthy Hearths program offers Southland residents a discount of up
to $200 toward the purchase and professional installation of clean-burning
gas log sets at more than 60 area retailers.
“Residents can play an important role in protecting their health and our air
by making the switch to clean-burning natural gas logs,” said William A.
Burke, Ed.D., chairman of AQMD’s Governing Board.
Today’s gas-log sets look remarkably like wood fires but they virtually
eliminate fine particulate emissions since they burn clean natural gas. And
they completely eliminate the hassle of handling wood and cleaning ashes
from the fireplace.
Fireplaces and other wood-burning devices are actively used in an estimated
1.2 million households in the Southland. They emit more than five tons of
harmful PM2.5 emissions per day in the South Coast Air Basin – more than
four times the amount of PM2.5 emitted from all the power plants in the
Southland.
Residents living in the South Coast Air Basin, which includes all of Orange
County and the non-desert portions of Los Angeles, Riverside and San
Bernardino counties, are eligible. Mountain community residents are not
eligible since AQMD’s Healthy Hearths initiative doesn’t apply to areas
above 3,000 feet elevation. A total of $500,000 is available on a
first-come, first-served basis until the program sells out.
To participate, residents must visit a participating retailer who will then
apply the discount to the purchase and professional installation cost of a
gas log set. To find a participating retailer and confirm eligible ZIP
codes, residents can visit www.HealthyHearths.org and click on Gas Log
Incentives.
The gas log incentive program is part of AQMD’s Healthy Hearths initiative
adopted in 2008. The initiative also includes the Check Before You Burn
program -- a wood-burning curtailment program in effect from November
through February each year on days when unhealthful air quality levels are
forecast.
Under the Check Before You Burn program, no-burn advisories will be issued
on days when PM2.5 levels are forecast to be unhealthy. No-burn advisories
will be issued only for the specific areas where PM2.5 levels are forecast
to be unhealthy and not for the entire region. Residents using clean-burning
gas logs are not subject to the curtailment program.
Numerous studies have found unhealthy levels of PM2.5 associated with
increased emergency room visits, hospitalizations and early deaths. Three
new studies released earlier this month by the California Air Resources
Board show that exposure to PM2.5 significantly elevates the risk for
premature deaths from heart disease in older adults and elevates incidence
of strokes among post-menopausal women.
For more information on the gas log incentive and Check Before You Burn
programs and on the health impacts from wood smoke, visit
www.HealthyHearths.org.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
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This page updated:
December 14, 2011
URL: http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/2011/gaslogincentivePR.htm
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