17 Arrowtown
A telephone survey of domestic heating methods and fuels for Arrowtown was carried out by Digipoll in December 2004. This involved surveying 150 households within the 2001 census area unit (CAU) area of Arrowtown.
Survey details are shown in Table 17.1. The number of households for 2004 was estimated based on 2001 census data for occupied dwellings, 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 the Queenstown–Lakes District of 30% by 2021. [High, medium and low population projections were estimated by Statistics New Zealand. The value used is the medium population projection.] It was assumed that the increase applies to the urban area of Arrowtown.
Table 17.1: Summary survey data, Arrowtown
17.1 Home heating methods and fuels
The Digipoll survey was used to collect information on home heating methods and fuels for Arrowtown. These data were collected for the purpose of evaluating the impact of variations in heating methods on air quality in Arrowtown, 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 Arrowtown largely in tabular form, in the expectation that these results will be of value in other assessments (eg, emission inventory studies).
Tables 17.2 and 17.3 show domestic heating methods and fuels used for main living areas in Arrowtown houses, and seasonal variations in heating behaviour. The commonest methods of heating the main living area in houses in Arrowtown were electricity (51%) and wood burners (46%). Many households used more than one method of heating in their main living area.
Table 17.2: Domestic home heating methods and fuels, Arrowtown
Between 3% and 10% of the households using gas or solid fuel burners in Arrowtown indicated that they operate them during the summer months. On average these households use their heating methods around one day per week during January and February. Table 17.4 shows that the quantities of fuel used during the non-winter months is less than during the winter months. 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 17.3: Monthly variations in heating behaviour and fuel use, Arrowtown
Table 17.4: Estimated daily fuel use, by season, Arrowtown
17.2 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 Arrowtown are presented in this section.
The proportion of households using gas systems that are properly flued in Arrowtown (51%) is much higher than the national average of 28% (Figure 17.1). The area also showed a greater proportion of newer wood burners (33%) than the average (24%).
The amount spent on heating for a winter month, by heating method, is shown in Table 17.5. The average heating expenditure in Arrowtown is higher than for most areas, with average monthly heating costs in excess of $80 per month for all heating types.
Figure 17.2 shows the average heating costs, home ownership, age of dwelling and number of bedrooms for households in Arrowtown. Wood burners and electric heating were the most common heating methods in houses that were rented. In Arrowtown approximately 26% of the households were rented in 2004.
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 17.3 shows that over 50% of the wood used on solid fuel burners in Arrowtown was self-collected.
Figure 17.1: Distribution of flued versus unflued gas heating and age of wood burner, Arrowtown
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 49% of all gas heating and Flued gas makes up 51%.
The second graph is divided by the age of wood burners. Post-1999 wood burners make up 33%, 1994-99 wood burners make up 32% and the remaining 35% of wood burner are Pre-1994.
Table 17.5: Average monthly heating costs (winter), Arrowtown
Figure 17.2: Domestic heating method, by average monthly heating expenditure, house ownership, house age and number of bedrooms, Arrowtown
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 $158, gas $133, open fire $84, wood burner $100 and multi-fuel $143.
The second graph sets out heating methods divided by home tenure. For households living in rentals 67 use electric, 53 use gas, 29 use open fire, 82 use wood burners, 0 use pellet burners, 38 use multi-fuel and 0 use oil. For households living in their own house 298 use electricity, 139 use gas, 82 use open fires, 250 use wood burners, 0 use pellet burners, 125 use multi-fuel and 24 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 42% electric, 50% gas, 41% wood burners, 35% multi fuel and 43% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses between 11 and 20 years old are 21% electric, 13% gas, 22% wood burners, 21% multi fuel and 13% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses between 21 and 40 years old are 22% electric, 20% gas, 20% wood burners, 26% multi fuel and 35% open fires.
- Heating methods for houses over 41 years old are 12% electric, 10% gas, 16% wood burners, 15% multi fuel and 9% open fires.
The fourth graph sets out particular heating methods by the number of bedrooms.
- Heating methods for houses with one bedroom are 1% electricity, 0% gas, 1% wood burner, 0% multi fuel and 0% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with two bedrooms are 29% electricity, 10% gas, 13% wood burner, 15% multi fuel and 17% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with three bedrooms are 49% electricity, 65% gas, 42% wood burner, 50% multi fuel and 61% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with four bedrooms are 20% electricity, 18% gas, 32% wood burner, 26% multi fuel and 9% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with five bedrooms are 9% electricity, 5% gas, 7% wood burner, 6% multi fuel and 4% open fire.
- Heating methods for houses with six bedrooms are 0% electricity, 3% gas, 3% wood burner, 3% multi fuel and 4% open fire.
Figure 17.3: Proportions of fuel obtained free of charge versus bought, Arrowtown
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 49% of their fuel, those using wood burners bought 31% of their fuel and those using multi-fuel burners bought 35% of their fuel.
Table 17.6: Type of electric heating, Arrowtown
The commonest types of electric heaters used in the main living area in Arrowtown houses were fan heaters, oil column heaters and night store heaters (Table 17.6). Radiant heaters were also fairly common. The proportion of houses using the more efficient heat pumps was 14%, which is similar to the national average (13%).
Data on home heating methods, by house ownership, are shown in Table 17.7.
Table 17.7: Home heating method, by house ownership, Arrowtown
Household insulation types and heating methods are shown in Tables 17.8 and 17.9. The proportion of households thought not be insulated in Arrowtown (8%) is similar to the national average of 10%.
Table 17.10 shows home heating method, by household income. The overall non-response rate was around 27%. This limits the interpretation of these data because there may be an income bias in the non-respondents.
Table 17.8: House insulation summary statistics, Arrowtown
Table 17.9: Degree of house insulation, by heating method, Arrowtown
Table 17.10: Home heating method, by household income, Arrowtown
Tables 17.11 and 17.12 show the relationship between heating methods and the age of the dwelling and number of bedrooms, respectively.
