District Heating Scheme

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31728, 11 July 1968, Page 11

District Heating Scheme

A topic which has been in the news recently is district heating as a solution to the air pollution problem.

The matter was raised by Dr J. B. Stott a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Canterbury, who said the principle had been suggested to the Government several times, but to no avail. Dr Stott said large district schemes would be cheap and efficient.

The publicity officer of the Christchurch Clean Air Society (Mr P. V. Neary) has said that his society welcomed Dr Stott’s participation in the public discussion oh air pollution. Dr Stott, who is an expert on coal, suggested that it could be used as the heat source for the scheme. He said the use of coal as a domestic fuel did not necessarily result in a high level of air pollution. Southland’s Ohai coals, he said,

would probably pass the British tests for smokeless fuels because of their low sulphur content and clean burning. Samples taken to the United Kingdom by the Government’s chief chemical inspector had, in fact, met the standards of British clean air legislation. Most West Coast coals gave some smoke, but they would burn cleanly in a welldesigned boiler, such as would be used for the district heating scheme. Mr Neary said that the society agreed that district heating had a great future. “However, the well spread out urban communities are probably not suited for district heating and this is something that must be considered now to find alternative means of smokeless heating,” Mr Neary said.