Firewood Burning At Home Linked To Poor Air Quality And Premature Deaths, Finds Study

Burning firewood at home can be a major contributor to air pollution and premature deaths in winters, according to a study.

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, showed that residential wood burning comprises about 22 per cent of PM2.5 pollution in winter, making it one of the single largest sources of fine particle pollution during the coldest months.

The modelling study led by researchers from Northwestern University found that pollution from residential wood burning is associated with about 8,600 premature deaths per year in the US.

They suggested using alternative appliances to heat homes instead of burning wood, which can have a big impact on fine particulate matter in the air -- and increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases.

"We frequently hear about the negative health impacts of wildfire smoke, but do not often consider the consequences of burning wood for heat in our homes," said Daniel Horton, Associate Professor of Earth at the varsity.

"Since only a small number of homes rely on wood burning for heat, facilitating a home-heating appliance transition to cleaner burning or non-burning heat sources could lead to outsized improvements in air quality," he added.

The study focussed on wood burning in homes, including emissions from wood-burning furnaces, boilers, fireplaces, and stoves.

Using a high-resolution atmospheric model, they simulated how pollution moves through the air. The model accounted for weather, wind, temperature, terrain, and atmospheric chemistry to estimate air quality over time.

"Wood burning emissions enter the atmosphere, where they are affected by meteorology," Horton said. "Some emissions are considered primary pollutants, such as black carbon, and some interact with the atmosphere and other constituents, and can form additional, secondary species of particulate matter pollution."

The team found that particulate matter from wood burning is particularly problematic in cities and suburban communities due to the combined effects of population density, emissions density, and atmospheric transport.

In many cities, smoke from surrounding suburbs drifts into more densely populated urban cores, which have limited wood-burning emissions. Even cities not typically associated with wood burning, such as those in warmer climates, can experience impacts from wood burning during cold snaps, recreational burning, and atmospheric transport.

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