Space Heating Problems Examined

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31152, 31 August 1966, Page 21

Space Heating Problems Examined

An open fire was a cheerful, untidy thing that did not warm a room very w’ell, said Mr J. Pollard, a chemical engineer, in a talk on the cost and consequences of domestic space heating. He was speaking in the Workers’ Educational Association's series of lectures on air pollution. “One's front broils whilst the back freezes,” Mr Pollard said, when discussing open fires. “Draughts flow across the floor: note how the family cat avoids the floor level.” Once the open fire was brought under control it began to look a little miserable. By the time it was confined in a box, even one with a glass porthole, the romance was gone. “No-one ever sat swigging mulled ale and roasting chestnuts in front of; a closed combustion stove,” | he said. If one was prepared to sacrifice “romance” to the interest of efficiency and operating cost, Mr Pollard suggested that serious thought be given to removing the fireplace from pride of place, if the television set had not already ousted it. Gas'fires were a reasonably "romantic” substitute, largely because there was some flame. A forced circulation hot water system offered a pleasant but expensive compromise for those who wished to retain an open fire, and use of such systems was worth watching in the future, Mr Pollard said. “Nightmare" After examining the costs of electric central heating, Mr Pollard said he had seen an advertisement that for £l2O a house could be turned into a dream home. But there was a nightmare behind, Mr Pollard continued. It would require an additional 10 kilowatts of generating capacity, some millions of gallons of water stor-

age, extra power line capacity, bigger transformers and thicker distribution cables. For the £l2O the owner spent the New Zealand Electricity Department and the Municipal Electricity Department would have to spend £2500. Overseas funds had to be used for electricity, as they did for fuel oil for space heating. A third fuel, coal, which also supplied gas and coke, was indigenous but woefully neglected, he said. In a year when £3O million was spent on power development the expenditure on investment in the coal industry was negligible. “Little Attention”

There had been surprisingly little attention to the problems engendered by increased space heating, Mr Pollard said. “The Mines Department has bowed technical and economic common-sense to political expediency, the supply authorities have fostered the illusion of cheap power, the New Zealand Electricity Department has proved an ineffectual shaper of policy, the State Advances Corporation has been indifferent to reducing fuel consumption by insulation. indifferent to pollution by not even advising on fuelburning appliances. The Industries and Commerce and the Customs Departments have no import policy to encourage the right appliances. I doubt if the oil industry puts the national interest before sales percentages. Sometimes ' I wonder at the gas industry’s failure to project the image it deserves in a city like Christchurch. “The pollution of Christchurch is directly involved in this muddle. It is time you demanded something better as a guide than Mr Shand sitting in two offices at once. Even for a politcian this is impossible, and in spite of Mr Holyoake's assurance, he does not constitute a genuine ministry of fuel and power.”