Gas Logs Earn Winter Discounts

As winter weather nears, smog control agency AQMD is offering residents a discount of up to $200 to convert their existing wood-burning fireplace to a clean-burning gas log set.

The Healthy Hearths program at AQMD will offer residents a discount on the purchase and professional installation of clean-burning gas log sets at more than 60 retailers. 

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 for the offer, with a total of $500,000 available on a first-come, first-served basis.

“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.

AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

To date, fireplaces and other wood-burning devices are used in roughly 1.2 million households in the Southland. These fireplaces 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.

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, part of AQMD’s Healthy Hearths initiative adopted in 2008, 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.

The press release stated that three new studies released in December by the California Air Resources Board showed 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.