gchiu: Actually you can install a uleb wood burner.

only if another wood fire is removed , it's called the offsetting rule

I found the preview of a cached link on the BOP govt site that says 50% of Rotorua households have a wood burner which is why the air was so bad in winter.  And here I was thinking it was all the sulfur.

Are wood cookers also covered by this?  They are exempt from the clean air act throughout the rest of the country.

I was visiting Tauranga a couple of years ago.  A friend had a heated pool and a spa from a geothermal bore as did neighbours, and the motel I was using.

I guess the council don't want people tapping into the geothermal resources in case it affects the ability to generate income from tourists.  Otherwise a ground source heat pump  in those regions sounds as though it might be very inexpensive.