Britain’s most polluted hotspot was outside Earls Court tube station in London. This area has an annual average of 129.5 micrograms per cubic metre of air (Mcg). That’s three times that of the World Health Organisation’s 40 mcg limit, according to recent research. Mcg = Micrograms of Nitrogen Dioxide per cubic meter.
In comparison other areas produced the following results:
Hanger Lane, Ealing – 72.3 mcg
Tower Bridge Road, Southwalk – 90.8 mcg
Birmingham, 73 mcg
Brighton, 77.9 mcg
Doncaster, 96 mcg
Around 36,000 people die in the UK each year due to air pollution, costing the country around £20bn. An extra 29,000 people die with a range of illnesses linked to air pollution, such as cancer, diabetes and lung disease.
The Air Pollution Bill will be discussed soon at the parliamentary launch of the Clean Air for All campaign. Following a summer of protests, the Government is thought to be slashing air pollution in the forthcoming environment bill.
Burning Wood and The Broadcast of Misinformation
Every time there is a focus on cleaner air, tackling air pollution, new pollution legislation and similar, there is sadly still a barrage of misinformation in the media around burning wood.
Typically this misinformation focuses on the “fact” that burning wood creates more pollution as a diesel lorry (and similar words/headlines)…”
The first issue here is that when these damning headlines are produced, there is absolutely no differentiation between an open fire, which as an efficiency of around 20%, and a Ecodesign Ready wood burning stove, which has an efficiency of around 80% (see the diagram below). This in itself is misleading. Also comparing a lorry with a stove is measuring apples with pears. The methods of testing are totally different as are the units of pollution measured.
Why wood burning stoves help our environment:
- They use a renewable energy source
- Burning wood on an Ecodesign stove produces less CO2 than if the same wood was left to rot on a forest floor
- Burning wood on an Ecodesign stove is considered carbon neutral
View our range of Ecodesign Ready wood burning stoves here
