News

Ready to Burn – what consumers need to know

Ready to Burn legislation came into force in England on 1 May 2021. This new law will ban the sale of the most polluting fuels used in homes; wet wood and house coal. Wood sold in volumes of up to 2m³ will need to be Ready to Burn certified as having a moisture content of…

Scientists review casts doubt on impact of wood burning stoves

Non-profit industry organisations HETAS and Woodsure say a scientific review of air quality measures casts serious doubt on the claim that wood burning causes more pollution than traffic. The independent scientific review1, commissioned by HETAS, draws attention to the uncertainty around how much domestic burning contributes to UK air pollution. In fact, the government report…

CPD Sessions and Workshops offered by HETAS

HETAS has been providing industry-leading training for installers of solid fuel and biomass appliances for decades with our MHCLG approved competent persons scheme in place since 2002.    The agenda of CPD sessions and workshops can be tailor-made to the requirements of your Local Authority. These interactive meetings keep staff up to date with changing legislation…

New legislation for wood and manufactured solid fuels

The new legislation will ban the sale of the wet wood and house coal, aiming to prevent harmful pollution from domestic burning of all solid fuels. The Ready to Burn certification scheme will underpin The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 and comes into force in England from May 2021 for most…

UK Clean Air Strategies and domestic burning

Work on implementing clean air strategies across the UK remains a high priority for the government and devolved administrations. We have already seen legislation passed in England for domestic solid fuels through The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 and can expect further changes to legislation over the coming years.

Refuel your appliance safely

We have some top tips on how to light a fire, but recent research has raised the issue of refuelling your fire. It is important to note that you shouldn’t expect to have smoke or products of combustion coming into your room when refuelling your fire, if you do, it is worth contacting your registered installer…

The impact of wood burning stoves on air pollution

What we have to say... Recently, we have read a few articles about wood burning stoves and their impact on air pollution. Following the development of various research projects, we can see it is difficult for scientists to cover in their studies, the wide variety of issues that can have an impact on air pollution, with a particular focus on…

White Paper on Clean Air (Wales) Bill published

HETAS is pleased to see the publication of the Welsh Government’s White Paper on a Clean Air (Wales) Bill which aims to make Wales a better and healthier place to live. HETAS has been working directly as part of the Welsh government Task and Finish Group since 2018 (comprising industry, fuel suppliers, Public Health Wales, Healthy Air Cymru, Local Authorities, HETAS and other organisations).

Changes to Energy Labelling Regulations

The end of 2020 brought about a wide number of significant changes to the way in which solid fuel burning appliances are conformity assessed and marked in compliance with both the Construction Products Regulations and Energy Labelling Regulations for the UK. UKCA mark In October 2020, HETAS produced an update on the upcoming changes legislation…

HETAS appointed by Defra to run Ready to Burn scheme for manufactured solid fuels

HETAS, the non-profit organisation supporting cleaner and safer choices for the use of biomass and other solid fuels, appliances and associated technologies, has been appointed by Defra to run its Ready to Burn certification scheme that will underpin The Air Quality (Domestic Solid Fuels Standards) (England) Regulations 2020 that will come into force in England from 1 May 2021 for manufactured solid fuels.