STOP BURNING EARTH; Ban Outdoor 'Patio' Heaters!

    A new campaign has been launched to halt the spread of environmentally-damaging patio heaters.

The heaters - an increasingly familiar sight outside pubs and at family barbecues - have become a hate figure for green groups.

They say the heaters, which can cost as little as £75, only heat the sky and could be responsible for as much as 1m tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

But in a new survey the Energy Saving Trust (EST) claim the gas and electric powered heaters are growing in popularity and ownership is set to almost double from 1.2 million to 2.3 million.

It is estimated that larger commercial heaters are now in almost 60,000 pubs, 25,000 restaurants and thousands more hotels, clubs, cafes and bars.

Their popularity has soared in the wake of the smoking ban which has led to many organisations installing them for customers driven to smoke outdoors.

Now the EST - one of the UK's leading organisations set up to combat climate change - is stepping up its campaign to persuade DIY stores to stop selling them because of the environmental damage they inflict.

Wyevale, a garden centre group, has already withdrawn them from sale. But others such as B&Q say they will continue selling them and say it is up to the customer to decide.

EST Chief Executive Philip Sellwood, said: "Why don't people just wear a jumper? People are also influencing the larger more damaging commercial sector with a third of pub goers choosing pubs where there is a patio heater. Landlords are helping to make patio heaters desirable - which they are not."

And Chairman Edward Hyams said: " We are not in the business of calling for a ban but we would ask people to think twice before they buy and hopefully retailers will get the message."

The EST used its Green Barometer - a quarterly tracker of behavior and opinion on green issues - and talked to almost 1,200 households for its survey. It found that more people were planning to buy the heaters and that two thirds of owners used their patio heaters at least once or twice a week

There is also a growing consensus among politicians that action has to be taken against the heaters which were called "an obscenity" by energy minister Malcolm Wickes.

Dr Des Turner, the Labour MP for Brighton, failed in an attempt to introduce a Bill to have the heaters banned.

"The use of patio heaters accounts for about 1m tonnes of CO2 emissions a year, which immediately cancels out, for instance, the savings made by government changes to vehicle taxations," he said.

Liberal Democrat environment spokesman Norman Baker said that patio heaters were a "waste of resources" and "doomed to failure".

"Patio heaters are an absurd invention. It is ludicrous that people are trying to heat the open air, as well as being irresponsible in the light of the climate change challenge we face. Instead of reaching for the gas canister people should reach for another jumper instead," he said.

Andrew Warren, Director of the Association for the Conservation of Energy, said: " There is no more visible symbol of the unacceptable despoilation of the environment than patio heaters. A ban on their sale would send a strong signal that people have to change their attitudes if we are to meet the challenges posed by climate change."

And Friends of the Earth director Tony Juniper said: "It is hard to imagine a device that inflicts more gratuitous damage on the environment."

But a B&Q spokeswoman said: "We will continue to sell outdoor heaters to customers who wish to purchase them, alongside our range of outdoor fire pits and chimineas. We want to ensure that by providing the right information our customers can make informed decisions; we do not dictate what customers buy and do at home. "

Patio facts:

The Energy Savings Trust estimates:

• A propane patio heater with a heat output of 12.5kW will produce around 34.9kg of CO2 before the fuel runs out (after approximately 13 hours). This is equivalent to the energy required to produce approximately 5,200 cups of tea (or 400 cups for every hour of operation).

• 2.3 million domestic patio heaters would emit the same amount of CO2 in a year as driving from Lands End to John O' Groats 200,000 times.

• The average patio heater uses the same amount of energy as a gas hob uses in six months and emits around 50 kg of CO2 per year. But while a hob is an essential item used every day in most kitchens patio heaters are typically only used for two months of the year, mostly in July and August.

• A modeling exercise by MTP on the energy use of the 630,000 UK domestic patio heaters calculated that they could produce a total of 140,000 tones of carbon dioxide per annum. This is roughly equivalent to the CO2 emissions from all the homes in Bath.

• Unlike cars, patio heaters are not fitted with filters to reduce the gases they produce. A standard 13kg canister of gas will warm an area outside of up to 25 sq m for 12 hours, whereas the same canister used in a gas fire could heat the same area indoors for 10 times longer. "

By Paul Eccleston
Last Updated: 11:27PM GMT 10 Nov 2008