Air pollution by burning coal at homes due to the rising cost of heating
Northern Island has recorded its coldest night of the year felling to -10C as the cold snap continues into a second week, December 2022. Cost of heating is rocketing.
The Met Office have issued a yellow weather warning for fog and ice from 17:00 GMT until 10:00 on 12th. Patchy freezing fog could linger in some valleys for most of the days as temperatures inland struggle to climb above zero.
Some people in Northern Ireland have resorted to buying and burning coal to keep their homes warm. Over the weekend there has been a sharp spike in air pollution in County Tyrone, and Londonderry.
Though it seems that these high levels have now dropped back according to data provided by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs.
https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2022/12/13news/
In these smoke control zones, residents and businesses are only allowed to burn smokeless fuels, and coal burning is not permitted at all. Strabane has introduced such smoke control zones way back in 2007 to protect the local environment.
Seamus Donaghy of the Strabane District Council said: “When fuels such as coal, wood and turf are burnt, the smoke they emit can contain harmful gases and microscopic particles which can causes damaging health effects.”
“Smoke control areas are in place to control domestic particulate emissions from solid fuel burning and protect the public’s health and the quality of the air that we all breathe.”
Health alert were sent out to local residents on 11th December 2022 to inform them that pollution levels had reached a record level of 10 the maximum level while nearby Newtownsteward was at level 8.
Fines of £1,000 over coal rules
However they have been warned if they do, they could face a fine of up to £1,000 if they defy the ban.
The UK measures air pollution using the Air Quality Index, a banding system approved by the Committee on Medical Effects of Air Pollution. The scale of pollution runs from 1 to 1o ending information to be conveyed in a simple way, similar to how pollen in measured too.
Householders face fines of over £1,000 if they burn coal. The local council has stated that burning solid fuel in a smokeless zone area will put more vulnerable people at risk, and its imperative that the ban stays in place to ensure that public health is not put at risk.
Enforcement officers will be in such areas to ensure the rules are followed and will be legally able to issue fines to anyone who contravenes the smoke control rules.
Dr Neil Rowland who is that the recent cold weather spell has simply made the problem much worse as people are burning coal and wood on fires, and cold air traps pollution at ground level.
Paul McSwiggan is an environmental officer for Derry City and Strabane District Council. He told people they need to obey the rules: “We believe a lot of this is to do with people burning a lot of fossil fuels and that is causing these spikes in pollution level,” he said.
“These are extremely high levels we have experienced over last few days and they can have an impact on people’s health, particularly the elderly and young children with lung conditions.”
https://www.airqualityni.co.uk
He advised that people can help quite simply by burning smokeless fuels, and to keep track of air pollution levels on the Air Quality Northern Ireland website.
Introduction to air pollution and reducing it
The air pollution we find in our atmosphere mostly comes from combustion activities. That is to say, when we burn fuels. In Northern Ireland the two most important examples of this are road cars that exhaust emissions and households when we burn solid fuel like coal, wood and peat.
Air pollution is known to have harmful effects on human health especially bronchial tubes and lung that causes tuberculosis and lung cancer. During first industry revolution lot of European died of tuberculosis.
Besides air pollution does harm the health of ecosystems and the environment. The main air pollutants of concern are particulate matter, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide and ozone.
Air pollution most often comes as a side effect of producing energy for heating or transport. Therefore, the choices we make about how we travel, how we heat our homes and works, and the things we buy and use can all help to make a difference to air quality.
https://www.daera-ni.gov.uk/articles/air-pollution
And governments and researchers have been developing renewable energies including fusion energy.
source: airqualitynews
