The alarm has been sounded about the dangers of wood heater smoke, with new research showing just how deadly exposure to the smoke is in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT).
The research, published in the Medical Journal of Australia, states that domestic wood heaters are the predominant source of particulate air pollution in the ACT and across many areas of the southern states, producing fine particles (PM2.5), carbon dioxide, methane and black carbon.
The health impact of wood heater smoke is significant, causing premature death and exacerbation of asthma and other respiratory and cardiovascular conditions.
“As bad as the Black Summer bushfires”
The researchers undertook a rapid health impact assessment of the effect of wood heater pollution on mortality in the ACT, using air quality data from three monitoring stations and existing population health statistics.
“The consequence of current wood heater use in the ACT is 11–63 avoidable deaths, equivalent to $57–333 million in the annual cost of deaths, comparable with the 31 deaths in the ACT attributable to the bushfire smoke during the Black Summer of 2019–20,” Professor Sotiris Vardoulakis and colleagues wrote.
Professor Vardoulakis is inaugural Professor of Global Environmental Health and Director of the Healthy Environments And Lives (HEAL) National Research Network at the Australian National University.
The ACT Government announced in August 2023 that it would phase out wood heaters by 2045, with a ban on the installation of new wood heaters in some suburbs extended.
“The ACT Government’s recent announcement of phasing out wood heaters in the ACT by 2045 is a positive development,” Professor Vardoulakis said.
“Similar steps including not permitting the installation of new wood heaters and phasing out existing ones in residential areas of other jurisdictions can offer major health and environmental benefits in Australia.
“Other effective measures include financial incentives or rebates to lower-income families to encourage people to replace wood heaters with cleaner alternatives that produce lower emissions, such as reverse cycle air conditioning systems powered by renewable energy.”
- Sam Hunt