Last month was colder and wetter than average across the UK, but also the sunniest October for a number of years. The lower height of the winter sun in the sky meant that despite the number of sunshine hours, there was no problem with photo-chemical pollutants like ozone. The only notable pollution event recorded was in Salford on the nights of the 27th and 28th. For several hours on both nights, nitrogen dioxide concentrations exceeded government limits. At the same time there was also a slight rise in levels of particle pollution. The monitoring site is located in the middle of a residential area and the event coincided with cold snap where a lot of the UK was experienced snow. This suggests that the pollution may well have been caused by people suddenly deciding to boost their heating using solid-fuel fires.
Open fires or solid-fuel stoves are becoming increasingly popular once more, particularly with the recent rises in the cost of running central heating on gas, oil or electricity. Whilst coal has recently been highlighted (particularly in the context of large power stations) as being a very dirty fuel, many people see wood as being an ‘environmentally friendly’ fuel as it is often considered as being both ‘renewable’ and ‘carbon-neutral’. Whilst it maybe appropriate to use solid fuels in sparsely populated rural areas, we currently face a significant risk of increasing urban pollution levels in this country through the use of wood-based fuels by both individual households, and as a means of providing heating and electricity for small industrial or commercial buildings.
