BURNING SOLID FUEL ACCOUNTS FOR 82% OF ENNISCORTHY’S AIR POLLUTION
SMOKY COAL BAN WON’T SOLVE PROBLEM AS OTHER FUELS ARE BIGGER ISSUE
A new report published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has found that solid fuel burning (SFB) accounts for 82% of the air pollution in Enniscorthy.
Furthermore, the authors of the report, which is entitled ‘Source Apportionment of Particulate Matter in Urban and Rural Residential Areas of Ireland (SAPPHIRE)’, contend that even the introduction of the smoky coal ban in the town in September won’t necessarily eradicate an issue which last year saw it christened ‘ The New Dehli of Ireland’.
Carried out between April 2014 and March 2017 the project tested air quality in Enniscorthy, Birr in County Offaly, and Killarney. And it found that coal only attributed to 17% of air pollution in Enniscorthy, with wood (21%) and peat (27%) posing a larger problem.
However, complicating the issue were a set of particles indistinguishable to researchers, an 11% which was thus categorised as being an amalgam of peat and coal.
Reporting on their findings, researchers said: ‘ The results presented here indicate that particles from the combustion of all three fuel types were present in all three towns.
‘As there was no one clearly dominant solid fuel combustion emissions source, measures such as a smoky or low-smoke coal ban in these areas may be only partly successful in reducing particle concentrations.
‘Future efforts to improve air quality in these towns, and others like them, will need to address how domestic residences are heated in general, rather than attempting to discourage the use of one specific fuel.’
Unsurprisingly, given recent reports, of the levels of air pollution recorded in the three towns Enniscorthy was the highest. Measured by microgrammes of chemical vapours, fumes or dust per cubic metre in the ambient air, Enniscorthy averaged 29.2 with a high of 236.6.
To put this into context the World Health Organisation ( WHO) 24-hour mean guideline value is 25. This figure was exceeded on 16 out of the 38 days recorded and every one of these days the highest hourly average was 50.
In addition to coal, peat and wood, 6% of air pollution was attributed to ‘amine and ammonium containing particles’ which, the authors said were ‘strongly associated with domestic solid fuel combustion and agricultural emissions’.
A considerable contribution to air pollution (approximately 5%) consisted of chemically processed combustion particles said the authors: ‘ These were characterised by a peatlike combustion particle containing trimethylamine (TMA), ammonium and ammonium nitrate. TMA and ammonium are present as gases in the atmosphere and they probably originated from agricultural activities in the surrounding areas.
‘ This important result indicates that agricultural emissions can combine with combustion emissions to further particle growth and increase levels of pollution.’
Traffic accounted for less than 1% of pollution during the three-year period, sea salt particles accounted for 4%, with 13% of the particles examined by researchers being labelled as unidentifiable.
Solid fuel burning accounted for 72% and 60% of air pollution in Killarney and Birr respectively.
Professor John Wenger was one of the authors of the report and he said that the ban on smoky coal may lead to people switching to more harmful solid fuel burning.
‘Peat and wood contribute to air pollution more than coal. They produce more pollutants when burnt. When the smoky coal ban comes in it will have some benefits but it may make things even worse if people decide to switch to wood and peat,’ he said.
‘I know everyone loves the home fire, the warmth of the flames, watching the wood burning, but if you walk around Enniscorthy in the winter you can actually taste the pollution in the air.’
Citing the array of health problems associated with air pollution and explaining that its geographical location makes Enniscorthy particularly susceptible, Prof Wenger said those living in the town needed to be incentivised to install renewable heating in their homes.
‘We need to provide incentives for people living in Enniscorthy, reward them for installing renewable heating, give them grants,’ he said.
‘ The new programme for Government includes lots of measure to combat climate change and home heating is a big challenge. But a nationwide ban on smoky coal won’t be enough. We need to move away from burning anything in the home. We need to start now and bring in renewable heating.’
‘ The analysis of the economics of this shows that by reducing heart attacks, strokes, you’re then reducing hospitalisations, there’s a cost benefit in the long run. But it costs money to make changes, and there’s a cost of effort too.’
The Wexford Environmental Network ( WEN) was established in 2018 to give people a platform to discuss ways to protect the county in the face of climate change. And it said this report offered an opportunity to reassess the way we heat our homes.
‘WEN welcomes this report and we’re really pleased that Enniscorthy is included in the detailed study,’ read the WEN statement.
‘Understanding what pollutes our air and what we can do about it is the first step in improving Wexford’s air quality.
‘Anyone who lives in any of Wexford’s larger towns has probably noticed the smog that worsens once our weather starts to cool and householders start to light fires.
‘Surely we can do better for our elderly residents in particular and come up with better home heating solutions that mean they don’t have to move heavy fuels and deal with the mess they make?
‘We think there is an opportunity here to look at how we heat our homes and solve an air quality problem and a greenhouse gas emission problem at once. As part of our post Covid recovery why not examine incentives and schemes for building retrofits that move our houses to clean energy, so that we don’t need to rely on burning solid fuels?
‘Cleaner solutions - like improved insulation and heat pumps - would make our houses warmer, more efficient and make our air cleaner. There’s so much opportunity in moving away from solid fuels - let’s use the findings of this report to really think about how we want to have warm homes and clean air. Let’s move towards that.’