New Delhi: Burning firewood at home during winter can significantly worsen air pollution and contribute to premature deaths, according to a new study.
Published in the journal Science Advances, the study found that residential wood burning accounts for nearly 22 per cent of PM2.5 pollution in winter, making it one of the largest single sources of fine particulate matter during the coldest months.
The modelling study, led by researchers from Northwestern University, estimated that pollution from residential wood burning is linked to around 8,600 premature deaths annually in the United States.
The researchers suggested shifting to alternative home-heating appliances instead of wood burning, noting that such a transition could substantially reduce fine particulate pollution and lower the risk of cardiovascular diseases.
“We often hear about the harmful health effects of wildfire smoke, but the impact of burning wood for heat inside homes is frequently overlooked,” said Daniel Horton, Associate Professor of Earth at Northwestern University.
“Since only a small proportion of homes depend on wood burning for heating, enabling a shift to cleaner or non-burning heating sources could result in disproportionately large improvements in air quality,” he added.
The study focused on emissions from residential wood burning, including wood-fired furnaces, boilers, fireplaces and stoves.
Using a high-resolution atmospheric model, the researchers simulated how pollutants disperse through the air, factoring in weather conditions, wind patterns, temperature, terrain and atmospheric chemistry to estimate changes in air quality over time.
“Emissions from wood burning enter the atmosphere and are influenced by meteorological conditions,” Horton explained. “Some are primary pollutants like black carbon, while others interact with the atmosphere to form secondary particulate matter.”
The findings showed that particulate pollution from wood burning is especially harmful in urban and suburban areas due to high population density, concentrated emissions and atmospheric transport.
In many cases, smoke from surrounding suburbs drifts into densely populated city centres, which may themselves have limited wood-burning activity. The study also noted that even cities in warmer climates can be affected during cold spells, recreational burning periods, and through long-range atmospheric transport.
With inputs from IANS