INDIANAPOLIS (AP) _ Indiana's largest statewide environmental group is launching a grant program that will pay to replace smoky, wood-burning outdoor furnaces with clean renewable-energy heating systems.

The Hoosier Environmental Council in partnership with the American Lung Association of the Upper Midwest and other groups is offering $500,000 in grants to replace some of Indiana's roughly 8,000 outdoor wood boilers.

The grants will pay to replace boilers, which produce smoky, irritating emissions, with virtually maintenance-free solar, geothermal or combination systems.

Hoosier Environmental Council director Jesse Kharbanda says participating homeowners will get a new clean energy source, their neighbors will no longer have to deal with smoky emissions and solar and geothermal entrepreneurs benefit by installing those systems.