Hawke's Bay Regional Council is helping people to warm up this winter

A new scheme hopes to help Hawke's Bay locals warm up with winter. Photo / File

A new programme from Hawke's Bay Regional Council will help warm people up this winter with good quality, low pollution fire wood.

The Get Good Wood this Winter scheme is currently registering wood merchants who are committed to selling wood with less than 25 per cent moisture content.

HBRC's sustainable homes manager Mark Heaney says they have made good progress reducing winter air pollution in Napier and Hastings with the woodburner upgrade scheme.

"The next step is to ensure people with modern woodburners can reliably buy good, low-pollution wood to help reduce pollution even further."

The Good Wood Scheme enables wood merchants to voluntarily sign up and commit to providing wood with less than 25 per cent moisture content.

They will be supported by Hawke's Bay Regional Council displaying their contact details on the council's website on the Good Wood page, with seasonal promotions.

There will be ongoing assurances that the approved merchants are meeting the requirements by selling good wood with less than 25 per cent moisture content, as Hawke's Bay Regional Council staff will regularly randomly test the wood at the point of delivery.

"Dry wood is an efficient heat source and can reduce fuel costs for residents by up to 40 per cent compared to using unseasoned green wood.

"This scheme aims to get you more for your firewood dollar. The other advantage of burning dry wood is that it keeps emissions from fires to a minimum."

Regional council is concerned there are no standards for fire wood, which means wood can be sold which under the Consumer Guarantee Act could be described as not fit for purpose.

"Hopefully less people will be caught out this year by false economy - buying on the basis of price not quality! They end up spending more for less heat than if they buy correctly seasoned wood. You have been warned - you can't burn water and green wood is 50 per cent water," Heaney said.

Storing your good wood in a well-aired shelter out of the rain will ensure it's ready to burn and give maximum heat.