WAlthough cities are thought to have the worst air pollution, research is increasingly revealing severe air pollution in rural towns and villages, primarily due to wood-fired heating. However, the government's measurement network focuses primarily on cities and does not monitor the air breathed by the 20-30% of people living in rural Britain and Europe.
To fill this gap, a team of scientists moved to the Slovenian village of Lecce for the winter. Leche has a population of 690 people and is located in a valley.
Dr. Kristina Grozek from the University of Nova Gorica described the scene as one that would be featured on a Christmas card. A small village with a church on top of a hill, often covered with snow, surrounded by dense forests. However, during the colder months of the year, the village is often shrouded in a brownish fog. ”
Public buildings in the village are connected to a district heating scheme, but households primarily burn wood.
Air pollution measuring device It was set up in the village and on a nearby hillside. Three times a day for two months, Glojek and his colleagues embarked on four-mile (6 km) walks with backpacks full of measuring equipment. by the end investigation They traveled nearly 400 miles in total.
Grozek explained the practical problem: “Low temperatures, early darkness, constant problems with scientific equipment, and a lot of wildlife, including bears. They hibernate, but they don't hibernate all the time. When air collects in valleys, particle pollution It reached the level of the most polluted city in the world. Even after walking for two hours three times a day, the smell could not be removed for 34 out of 88 days.
Despite this data, local perceptions were quite different. “70% believe that the air quality in their area is good, and 89% believe that wood smoke does not have a negative impact on their health,” Grozek said. All other sources of local contamination were mentioned, but they don't actually exist in the area. ”
It is often said that burning wood does not contribute to climate change. Actually not. Cutting down trees removes activated carbon sinks and also leads to wood burning. produces climate warming methane. In Lecce, researchers studied smoke that contains black soot and brown particles that can absorb the sun's heat.
Andrea Cuesta, a member of the research team at the Leibniz Institute for Troposphere Research, said: [warming] And bright surfaces like fresh snow are more susceptible to wood smoke, which can accelerate melting. ”
research in Ireland Germany and Germany showed that villages and small towns are particularly affected by air pollution from wood and solid fuel heating during the winter.
In Scotland, proposals to ban stoves as the main source of heating in new homes and extensions have been withdrawn. Professor Gilles Bellucci, University of Dundee“Instead of allowing wood-burning in new construction, we should provide more generous solar, heat pump, and insulation subsidies to people off-grid or with unreliable power, with exceptions in rural areas.'' “Expanding highly resilient electricity grids could reduce the serious health risks associated with wood-burning.” For all our people. ”
