Green scheme for patio heaters

Licensees are being offered the chance to run more environmentally friendly gas patio heaters.

As licensees across the country look to use patio heaters outside in preparation for the smoking ban, gas supplier Calor hopes its new Carbon Offset Programme will show customers that the pub is taking steps to reduce its "carbon footprint".

The programme lets pubs "neutralise" the amount of CO2 emitted by the heaters.

Calor has recruited the not-for-profit group Equiclimate to offset CO2 emissions by funding schemes to reduce carbon being given off elsewhere in the world.

Licensees pay 17p per gas cylinder for the service, and receive a sticker and certificate to prove that they have taken action to reduce carbon usage. The scheme is expected to cost the average pub around £2.30 for five years.

Calor's corporate affairs manager Andrew Ford said: "As with any appliances, we advise our customers to use their patio heaters responsibly in order to reduce their CO2 emissions and our new Calor Carbon Offset Programme offers customers the chance to offset the rest."​

See www.calorcarbonoffset.co.uk​ for more information.

Meanwhile, Calor has hit back at claims that gas patio heaters are bad for the environment.

The gas supplier said patio heaters produce an average 35kg of carbon dioxide (CO2) a year - half the amount as a mobile phone charger if it is left plugged in while not being used.

TVs being left on stand-by emit 35 times as much CO2 than patio heaters, Calor added.

And the company said reports that patio heaters emit more than one million tonnes of CO2 are "grossly inaccurate". Government statistics show the UK's 630,000 domestic heaters give off 22,200 tonnes of carbon dioxide.