Discount for non-polluting fireplace gas logs

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Homeowners can get a $125 discount on the price of gas log sets for their fireplaces under a new program aimed at curbing wood smoke pollution.

Under the ‘Healthy Hearths’ program unveiled Friday by the South Coast Air Quality Management District, buyers can obtain the discount at more than 60 participating retailers in Southern California. With the incentive, the agency is trying to encourage the conversion of as many as 5,000 wood burning fireplaces to gas logs.

During the winter, wood burning in the region’s fireplaces and wood stoves sends as much as 10 tons a day of fine particulates into the air. Wood smoke emissions cause four times more fine particulate air pollution than all the power plants in the region, according to AQMD.

Earlier this year, the agency’s board adopted regulations that will, starting in March, ban the installation of permanent indoor or outdoor wood-burning fireplaces or stoves in new residential or commercial construction. Starting in fall 2011, the rules will also bar wood burning on days of high particulate pollution.

The AQMD will reimburse retailers for $100 of the gas log discount and manufacturers are kicking in the rest.

-- Bettina Boxall