i'll predict:
1. the price of fire wood will almost double in california,
2. that most fire wood will be transported across state lines, adding to the price,
3. that those who have a business selling firewood will eventually die out.
4. that tougher state regulations will be enacted regarding the transport of fire wood across state lines.
5. that many other states and cities will follow what california is doing.
so.....will this hurt the sale of houses that have wood burning fireplaces already? if a house has an existing fireplace and they put it on the market, do they have to convert to gas before they can sell?
1) Already has. $400+ for a cord most places.
2) Nope. Most of the firewood in CA is grown in CA. CA has lots of trees, especially in northern CA. Lots of SOD (sudden oak death) there too, so some areas have restrictions on taking firewood out. Too expensive to transport it into CA with gas at $3 a gallon and huge mountains on all sides. A cord of seasoned wood weighs up to 2 tons too.
3) I think not. The price of firewood is so high now that there is still a living at it, and there are a lot of arbor business in CA. The SF and LA areas are only a small percentage of the state. Huge percentage of the population though. Also the price of lumber is now so low that it is better to buck up logs into firewood. So there are sawyers making money on firewood instead of selling logs at the mills out here.
4) Already tough regulations here in the west for SOD, and other restrictions. Depends on the state. OR exports a lot of ag stuff to CA as it is. Seed garlic, Christmas trees, berries, lumber, yadda yadda.
5) Probably, but MA and NY and WA states are far ahead of CA when it comes to limits and restrictions on wood burning appliances. New England is especially bad about OWBs.
As I said above, houses already existing with fireplaces are grandfathered as exempt from the law. As such, they sell for a slight premium over houses w/o them. There is still good demand for the old fashioned rediculously inefficient outside wall fireplace that sucks all the heat out of your house to feed the fire. But... once your house has a fireplace, you can expand it, or rebuild it, or put in a more efficient wood burning stove or appliance. Hence the demad is still there, and only the houses in the SF area and some other areas in CA are restricted. CA is a HUGE state, area wise.