A telephone survey of domestic heating methods and fuels for Nelson was carried out by Digipoll in January 2005. This involved surveying 150 households within the 2001 census area unit (CAU) areas of Britannia Heights, Kirks, Bronte, Tahunanui, Toi Toi, Broads, Grampians and Nelson Airport. The survey focused on households within the two areas of Nelson where air quality is of greatest concern and the results were extrapolated to the rest of Nelson.
Survey details are shown in Table 24.1. The number of households for 2004 was estimated based on 2001 census data for occupied dwellings for the above areas, extrapolated for 2004 based on Statistics New Zealand population projections. [New Zealand Statistics 2004, www.stats.govt.nz] The latter suggest a population increase for Nelson of 17% by 2021. [High, medium and low population projections were estimated by Statistics New Zealand. The value used is the medium population projection.]
Table 24.1: Summary survey data, Nelson
24.1 Home heating methods and fuels
The Digipoll survey was used to collect information on home heating methods and fuels for Nelson. These data were collected for the purpose of evaluating the impact of variations in heating methods on air quality in Nelson, in particular the extent of change required to achieve the national environmental standard for PM10. This section presents the results of the home heating survey for Nelson largely in tabular form, in the expectation that these results will be of value in other assessments (eg, emission inventory studies).
Tables 24.2 and 24.3 show domestic heating methods and fuels used for the main living areas in Nelson houses, and seasonal variations in heating behaviour. The commonest methods of heating the main living area in Nelson were electricity (44%) and wood burners (43%). Many households used more than one method of heating in their main living area.
Table 24.2: Domestic home heating methods and fuels, Nelson
Around 6% of households using open fires and 3% of households using wood burners heat their homes during the summer months (Table 24.3). The quantities of fuel used per day during non-winter months was typically less than during the winter (Table 24.4). Data are not presented for all heating methods because there was a high non-response rate for questions relating to seasonal variations for some heating types.
Table 24.3: Monthly variations in heating behaviour and fuel use, Nelson
Table 24.4: Estimated daily fuel use, by season, Nelson
24.2 Insulation, cost of heating, income, and house age and size
In addition to collecting data for the purpose of evaluating the impact of variations in heating methods on air quality, information was collected on a number of variables relevant to the Ministry for the Environment's Warm Homes Project. Relevant data for Nelson are presented in this section.
Figure 24.1 shows that the proportion of households using gas systems that are properly flued in Nelson is around 23%. This is similar to the national average of 24%.
The amount spent on heating for a winter month, by heating method, is shown in Table 24.5.
Figure 24.2 shows the average heating costs, home ownership, age of dwelling and number of bedrooms for households in Nelson. Around 22% of the respondents in Nelson were living in rental accommodation. This compares with a national average of around 20%.
One factor influencing the amount spent on different heating methods is the ability of households using solid fuel burners to obtain wood free of charge. Figure 24.3 shows that around 50% of the wood used on solid fuel burners in Nelson is self-collected.
Figure 24.1: Distribution of flued versus unflued gas heating and age of wood burner, Nelson
Text description of figure
There are two pie graphs. The first graph shows the distribution of flued and unflued gas heaters. Unflued gas makes up 77% of all gas heating and Flued gas makes up 23%.
The second graph is divided by the age of wood burners. Post-1999 wood burners make up 30%, 1994-99 wood burners make up 13% and the remaining 57% of wood burners are Pre-1994.
Table 24.5: Average monthly heating costs (winter), Nelson
Figure 24.2: Domestic heating method, by average monthly heating expenditure, house ownership, house age and number of bedrooms, Nelson
Average heating cost per month (winter)
House ownership
Age of dwelling
Number of bedrooms
Text description of figure
There are four bar graphs.
The first graph sets out the average heating cost per month in winter. Cost per month by heating methods are: electric $86, gas $92, open fire $77, wood burner $60, pellet burner $0, multi-fuel $19 and oil $0.
The second graph sets out heating methods divided by home tenure. For households living in rentals 1373 use electric, 1275 use gas, 588 use open fire, 1078 use wood burners, 0 use pellet burners, 196 use multi-fuel and 98 use oil. For households living in their own house 5098 use electricity, 3529 use gas, 1078 use open fires, 5196 use wood burners, 0 use pellet burners, 686 use multi-fuel and 196 use oil.
The third graph sets out the age of a dwelling using a particular method of heating.
- Heating methods for houses under 10 years old are 21% electric, 16% gas, 8% wood burners, 0% multi fuel and 0% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses between 11 and 20 years old are 9% electric, 8% gas, 13% wood burners, 22% multi fuel and 6% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses between 21 and 40 years old are 23% electric, 14% gas, 14% wood burners, 11% multi fuel and 12% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses over 41 years old are 42% electric, 55% gas, 56% wood burners, 67% multi fuel and 82% open fires.
The fourth graph sets out particular heating methods by the number of bedrooms.
- Heating methods for houses with one bedroom are 5% electricity, 0% gas, 2% wood burner, 0% multi fuel and 0% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with two bedrooms are 21% electricity, 16% gas, 8% wood burner, 11% multi fuel and 6% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with three bedrooms are 47% electricity, 47% gas, 55% wood burner, 33% multi fuel and 53% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with four bedrooms are 21% electricity, 33% gas, 30% wood burner, 33% multi fuel and 24% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with five bedrooms are 5% electricity, 4% gas, 3% wood burner, 0% multi fuel and 12% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with six bedrooms are 0% electricity, 0% gas, 0% wood burner, 0% multi fuel and 0% open fire.
Figure 24.3: Proportions of fuel obtained free of charge versus bought, Nelson
Text description of figure
This bar graph shows the amount of wood either bought or collected free of charge by three different types of heating.
Those using open fires bought 44% of their fuel, those using wood burners bought 42% of their fuel and those using multi-fuel burners bought 50% of their fuel.
Table 24.6: Type of electric heating, Nelson
The commonest types of electric heating used in the main living area in Nelson houses were oil column heaters, night-store heaters, heat pumps and fan heaters (Table 24.6). A number of houses used more than one type of electric heater in their main living area.
Data on home heating methods, by house ownership, are shown in Table 24.7.
Table 24.7: Home heating method, by house ownership, Nelson
Household insulation types and heating methods are shown in Tables 24.8 and 24.9. Around 73% of houses had ceiling insulation and around 55% had wall insulation. Only 29% of houses had at least three types of insulation.
Table 24.10 shows home heating method, by household income. The overall non-response rate was around 25%. This limits the interpretation of these data because there may be an income bias in the non-respondents.
Table 24.8: House insulation summary statistics, Nelson
Table 24.9: Degree of house insulation, by heating method, Nelson
Table 24.10: Home heating method, by household income, Nelson
Tables 24.11 and 24.12 show the relationship between heating methods and the age of the dwelling and number of bedrooms, respectively.
Table 24.11: Home heating method, by age of dwelling, Nelson
Table 24.12: Home heating method, by number of bedrooms, Nelson
24 Nelson
November 2005
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