Chairman Jon Newson said the trust's third annual Clean Air and Warm Homes Expo was well attended at the Arrowtown Athenaeum Hall this weekend.
He said the expo was aimed at raising awareness and to encourage people to move to more environmentally friendly heating systems before it became a requirement in 2013.
"Our aim is to try and make sure residents think about the air quality before it becomes a major problem," Mr Newson said.
The cutoff for an Otago Regional Council (ORC) subsidy for an approved heating system ends in 2012.
The trust was unsure if grants would be available after that time, he said.
A top-up subsidy was also available from the Queenstown Lakes District Council through the trust, he said.
The expo had 10 exhibitors, including suppliers of heat pumps, gas, wood and pellet fires, solar heaters, thermal curtains and insulation.
ORC regional services group manager Jeff Donaldson was at the expo giving funding information and assistance.
He was pleased with the number of Arrowtown residents filling out application forms for the subsidy.
The subsidy depended on the applicants' income.
"More people are aware this year that they must be compliant by 2013. People are coming for more information. They know they've got to do it if they want to improve the air quality in Arrowtown," he said.
Arrowtown's air quality breached standard PM10 levels on 32 days last winter, and had breached the standard on one day so far this year, Mr Donaldson said.
Arrowtown resident Linda Harrison said she had signed an application form for a subsidy at the expo.
"We signed up and a guy is coming out to look at our insulation, so that's great. That's enough to get us started," she said.
