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Patio Heaters Ban?
Take me to your leader
The European Commission is likely to look into a ban on patio and terrace heating following a series of proposals drawing attention to their impact on the environment.
An EU ban on patio heating would catch Europe's smokers in a pincer movement: National bans on smoking indoors forcing smokers onto the streets, where they are subject to European laws preventing bar owners from heating their terraces.
Many green groups argue that patio heaters pose a threat to the environment: The Energy Saving Trust quoted figures from Green Barometer in The Times, which claim that "the number of patio heaters in the country will double to at least 2.3 million within two years...
"The trust said that 2.3 million heaters would emit the same CO2 in a year as driving from Land’s End to John o’ Groats 200,000 times."
Philip Sellwood, the chief exec of the trust argues that Britain should not wait for the EU to ban the heaters, pointing to garden centres B&Q, Wyedale and Notcutts who have agreed to halt their sale because of environmental concerns. He suggests that clients wishing to go outside should wrap up well.
The former director of Friends of the Earth, Tony Juniper, has stronger words:
"It is madness that we should be pumping out carbon dioxide by heating the open air. The UK Government... must be prepared to back EU proposals to improve energy efficiency, which include banning these carbon-belching monstrosities."
Unsurprisingly, a British MEP is leading calls for the ban. Fiona Hall, a Liberal Democrat MEP, says "Patio heaters are scandalous because they are burning fossil fuels in the open sky, so producing vast quantities of CO2 with very little heat benefit."
However, pub owners are worried that a ban could harm trade. The Telegraph reports that British publicans have spent £86.5 million on terrace heating over the past year: They claim they could lose £250 million if remaining smokers are deterred from going to pubs.
More:
"Nigel Farage, leader of the UK Independence Party, said: "Not content with devastating the pub trade with the illiberal and ill-informed smoking ban, these autocratic busybodies now want to make smokers stand in the cold and the rain.
""We are constantly being told that the continental café culture is something to aspire to.
""But a ban like this will hammer the cafés of Brussels, Stockholm and Copenhagen just as surely as the pubs of Leeds and Sevenoaks.""
Critics of the proposals say that the impact of patio heaters on the environment is minimal. From the Independent: "Dr Eric Johnson, national expert reviewer for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, said: "Once comparisons start with well-known offenders such as aeroplanes, outdoor heaters dwarf in comparison. In actual fact, plasma TVs produce far more CO2 than patio heaters when you compare normal usage patterns for each appliance."
Government figures suggest "domestic patio heaters produce a total of 22,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide, which is 0.002 per cent of the total UK carbon dioxide emissions, while televisions produce 4.6 million tonnes of CO2 each year."
Dr Johnson adds it would take more than five patio heaters to produce as much CO2 as one television on standby mode over a year.
Ms Hall's bill, which is non-enforceable but up for the vote in the European Parliament today, makes reference to television sets and decoder boxes which use power while on standby. EURSOC would agree with pressure on manufacturers to alter this system: The (new) television he purchased last year must be unplugged after use, as there is no means of switching it from standby. A strange situation.
