That air wood burning pollution in homes is an responsible for more over £1 billion a year year in harm to health in According to the report, in the UK and 10 billion euros (8.5 billion pounds) in the EU.
European Public Health Alliance analysis found in total expenses of early deaths, illnesses and lost work as a result of external air pollution produced by all home heating was 29 billion euros per year. year.
Woodburn was the biggest single cause of these costs, accounting for 54% of in total in UK and 40% in EU. And this despite the fact that wood stoves produce only 11% of heat in United Kingdom homes and 14% in EU. The report combines wood burning in ovens and on open fire: in UK two thirds of people use ovens.
The researchers stated that they cost scores were conservative because there is not enough of data prevented them from turning on influence of in room air heating pollution.
Compared with transport regulators have largely neglected heating and cooking as sources of of air pollution, EPHA said. Report found this heat pumps and solar water heaters are not manufactured air pollution in homes using them.
“It is clearer than ever that burning biomass and fossil fuels on home is not only an environmental problem, but also great health problem”, said Milka Sokolovic, EPHA. director general. “The solution obviously lies in ensuring that homes powered by clean renewable energy sources. Because people are fighting with high energy prices, we must avoid quick and dirty solutions.”
Air pollution is the biggest environmental risk for health, causing millions of an early death year globally. WEIGHT, just one of pollutants, small particles less than 2.5 µm in size (PM2.5), to blame for 300,000 deaths in year. Complex global review in 2019 found this air pollution can damage every organ in human body.
Recent reports have highlighted high levels of pollution produced by wood burners. Furnaces radiate more particles than traffic in UK, where only 8% of homes have them and 95% of furnace owners have other sources of heating. wood stoves in urban areas also responsible for nearly half of peopleexposure to cancer-causing chemicals found in filthy airanother study concluded.
That new the report was prepared for EPHA of the Dutch consulting company CE Delft. health related social costs have been received using data from Eurostat and other sources on fuel emissions, energy use and association with illness for seven pollutants. These costs included premature death, illness, increased health care costs and decreased productivity. The data was for 2018. latest available.
Analysis found this for most countries – eighteen out of 28 – related to health social costs due to people heating them homes we higher than the costs associated with use of cars and other transport.
The most harmful type of heating was coal-fired boilers, as a result of which in 1200 euro of damages year and it was taken into account for 64% of in total expenses in Poland. Wood stoves were second the most destructive with average costs of 750 euros per year calling 84% of expenses in Italy. “For comparison, we roughly calculated that driving a diesel car for one year causes health related social expenses of 210 euros,” the researchers wrote.
In the UK, health-related social expenses of wood stoves around 40 times higher than a gas boiler over but year. “Obviously, when some [fuels and appliances] highly pollute the environment, they have a high share of in social cost estimates, but only relatively minor share of in final energy consumption,” said environmental economist Marisa Korteland from CE Delft.
EU set drag out air pollution limits in 2022 and may tighten Ecodesign pollution limits for heaters. That latest Ecodesign wood stoves that are becoming a must in January for new sales in EU and UK are throwing out 750 times more pollution with tiny particles than that of a modern HGV truck, an October report showed.
Previously in March, UK government proposed new air quality restrictions for 2040 whatever allow twice as much PM2.5 pollution in England, as recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) today as the upper limit.
