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Discounts now available
on EPA approved wood burners

by DENNIS A. SETTER
Managing Editor

      The clock has just begun to run on a program that will provide a limited number of discounts for people willing to "change out" their older wood burning stoves.
       The replacement program, called the 2008 Woodstove Change-out Grant Program, will end on July 31, 2008. The program is a cooperative effort between the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, the Michigan United Conservation Clubs (MUCC), the Environmental Protection Agency and the Hearth, Patio & Barbecue Association through a $100,000 federal EPA grant.
       The grant program will provide up to $500 in rebate and discount incentives toward the replacement of a conventional wood-burning stove with a more efficient, cleaner wood, pellet, corn, gas or electric stove or fireplace insert certified by the EPA.
       A $290 mail-in-rebate from MUCC will be issued to qualified consumers who perform the change-out through a participating retailer. The program is being administered through the MUCC and is available to the first 500 qualified participants.
       Michigan residents willing to take part in the program must agree to have their old stove rendered inoperable and must complete all portions of the "Rebate Request Form." Additionally, the change-out must be performed by a certified installer.
       Those residents wishing to change-out their old wood-burning stove, must currently have one that was installed before 1990.
       The newer EPA-certified stoves are said to emit more than 70 percent less PM than older, conventional wood stoves. The goal of the program is to replace older inefficient wood burning stoves with the latest technologically advanced stoves available in the industry.
       EPA estimates that replacing one old stove is equivalent to taking five diesel buses off the road. It also estimates there are approximately 10 million wood stoves currently in use in the U.S (70-80 percent of them are older, inefficient, conventional stoves that pollute).
       Michigan began its participation in the Great American Woodstove Change-out in 2000 through a joint pilot program conducted in Traverse City.
       For a list of EPA-approved stoves and participating dealers visit MUCC's Web site at www.mucc.org