Experts suggest replacing gas hobs with electric ones, saying it is a win–win for health and the climate
Air pollution from wood burning and gas cooking is massively costly to our healthcare systems and the economy. These are the conclusions of a peer-reviewed study from New Zealand that calculated the cost of hospital treatment, days off ill and early deaths from the air pollution produced by fireplaces, stoves, gas cooking and un-flued room heaters.
Indoor air pollution from New Zealand’s 523,000 wood burners was estimated to account for 446 hospital admissions for heart and lung problems, and 101 early deaths annually, in a country with a population of just over 5 million people. Breathing fumes from gas cooking indoors created more than 1,000 hospital admissions, 208 early deaths and more than 3,000 new cases of childhood asthma each year.
Dr Gareth Gretton, from the New Zealand government’s Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority, said: “We were aware of growing international evidence of the importance of indoor air quality, but we did not have a method for quantifying the cost of air pollution from gas and wood burning appliances.”
Open fires were found to be the most harmful way to heat a home. The health impacts of extra air pollution breathed in each house with a fire led to an annual cost of around NZ$53,400 (£23,000) to the New Zealand healthcare system and economy. This assumes a household of two adults and two children who are exposed to air pollution indoors from their open fire.
