A thousand households have applied for boiler replacements

Over a thousand households have applied for subsidies to replace old non-environmentally-friendly boilers within a so-called Boiler Subsidy program. Tomáš Macura, the Mayor of Ostrava, informed about this. As soon as the boilers are replaced, the household heating sources will release approximately 100 tons of dust less during heating season.

“And we will be able to tell for sure,” stated Tomáš Macura.

The numbers are convincing and produce evidence of increasing interest in modernization of local heating sources. While in the first round of Boiler Subsidies 422 people applied for the replacement of boilers in the urban area, in the second round announced last year there were over 580 applicants.

“If we consider that one obsolete boiler produces about 100 kilograms of dust a year, thousand boilers equal to 100 tons. Which is a pretty big factory,” said the Mayor Tomáš Macura.

The city supports modernization and ecologization of household heating sources with many activities.

“It includes subsidies from the municipal budget, information campaigns or provision of interest-free loans for pre-financing of boiler replacement,” specified the Deputy Mayor for the Environment Kateřina Šebestová.

The Moravian-Silesian Region is among the regions with the highest air pollution in the country. In addition to industry, traffic and pollutants from the neighbouring Poland, it is also due to obsolete heating sources in residential houses. Based on information available, approximately 47 thousand households use solid fuel for heating, whereas up to 24 thousand boilers are non-compliant. So far, about 8,000 boilers have been replaced in the region, using subsidies. In the current round the Regional Office registers approximately 7,000 applications for Boiler Subsidies.