Air pollution from wood burning and gas cooking is very costly to our health systems and economies. These are the conclusions of the peer-reviewed expert study from New Zealand, which calculated the cost of hospital treatment, sick days off and early mortality from air pollution from fireplaces, stoves, gas cooking and space heaters without a chimney.
Indoor air pollution from New Zealand's 523,000 wood-burning stoves is estimated to be responsible for 446 hospitalizations for heart and lung problems and 101 early deaths each year in the country of just over 5 million people. Every year, inhaling gases from indoor cooking is responsible for more than 1,000 hospitalizations, 208 early deaths and more than 3,000 new cases of childhood asthma.
Dr Gareth Gretton from the New Zealand Government Office of Energy Efficiency and Conservationsaid: “We were aware of the growing international evidence of the importance of indoor air quality, but we did not have a method for quantifying the cost of air pollution from gas and wood-fired appliances.”
Open fire has proven to be the most harmful way to heat a home. The health impacts of the increased air pollution each fire house breathes resulted in an annual cost to the New Zealand health system and economy of approximately NZ$53,400 (£23,000). It is assumed that a family consists of two adults and two children who are exposed to indoor air pollution due to an open fire.
Even modern stoves pollute indoor air. Researchers estimate the health and economic costs of air pollution inhaled by each household using one of these appliances to be NZ$1,800 per year. Indoor pollution from gas cooking costs each household NZ$9,200 annually.
Jane Metcalfe, from a New Zealand consultancy Emission is not possiblesaid: “The hardest part was assessing how much different combustion appliances affected the air quality in people's homes. We looked at studies done in New Zealand and overseas, but indoor air quality is a complex issue. Despite this, the results were clear: no matter what assumptions you use, the health costs of indoor air pollution are significant for all combustion appliances.” which we have considered.”
She added: “The health impacts of indoor air pollution are significant. A simple way to reduce this is to replace gas stoves with electric ones where possible – and ideally avoid installing new ones altogether. It's a win – a win for both health and the climate.”
Wood burning also contributes to outdoor air pollution, which negatively impacts the local community. These additional health care costs amounted to NZ$3,200 (£1,400) per year for each modern wood stove and as much as NZ$26,800 (£11,500) for each open fire.
This is much higher than estimates for London, where air pollution from a typical wood burning stove results in annual health costs of around £800 in the surrounding community, generally in accordance with Pan-European estimate: €760. (£660) per Every house has a wood stove. Much of this difference can be explained by usage, and the New Zealand study could provide insight into the future if More wood is being burned in British homes.
2015 survey found that less than 5% of New Zealand homes have central heating. Instead of, heating one room at a time is normincluding wood-burning fireplaces and portable heaters. Around 95% of UK homes have central heating, with wood and coal rarely used as the main heating system.
