January 10, 2008 in Voices

Get a rebate for a wood stove update

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Up to 150 homeowners in the Spokane metropolitan area will be able to get substantial cash rebates for replacing their older-style wood stoves with new cleaner-burning devices.

Rebates of up to $600 are being made available by the Spokane Regional Clean Air Agency through nine participating retailers at 13 locations in the county.

The rebates are possible through a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Another $50,000 is coming from the clean air agency, Avista and a wood-stove industry organization.

Retailers are also providing additional cash incentives.

Already, nearly 30 stove owners have signed up for the rebate, said Lisa Woodard, spokeswoman for the clean air agency. There should be sufficient money to provide a total of 150 rebates, she said.

“The goal is to get the old smokers out of the air shed,” Woodard said.

The rebates start at $400 to $450 for replacing an old stove with a new certified wood or wood pellet stove. The amount goes up to $550 to $600 for replacing an old stove with a new natural gas or propane-fueled stove. The larger amount for gas or propane models is being offered because they are cleaner burning than certified wood appliances.

The national Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association has been supporting stove change-outs across the country, including one in Libby, Mont., where wood smoke has been a pollution problem for years.

To qualify for the rebate, stove owners must fill out an application available at 13 stove retail outlets in the metropolitan areas. The old stove must be noncertified, meaning it uses older technology that releases more pollutants. Also, the stove owner must live inside the county’s smoke control zone, which covers urban areas of Spokane, Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake and unincorporated areas just outside the urban areas.

Applications are also available on line at the clean air agency’s Web site at spokanecleanair.org/.

Deadline for applications is Feb. 29.

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