In winter, the smell of burnt wood settles over the land. Even in large cities, the flames are blazing in comfort ovens: hot fireplaces, which are lit not because of the heat but because of the homely atmosphere, in the jargon. Added to this are wood pellet heaters, with which homeowners want to do something good for the climate.
Meanwhile, this trend has become a problem for the air quality. A broad alliance of environmental organizations therefore calls for a large-scale ban on wooden fireplaces. The associations propose, according to information from SPIEGEL, only to approve ovens, which have a fine dust filter and a blue environmental angel as a seal of quality.
In Germany, 26 percent of particulate matter and 44 percent of carbon black come from so-called domestic fires from fireplaces and stoves. The proportion of soot emissions could rise to 67 percent by 2030 unless countermeasures were taken, in particular against wood-burning stoves, according to environmental expert Axel Friedrich, adviser to the German Environmental Aid (DUH), who together with the organizations Nabu and BUND want to present the initiative next week.
Especially in pellet heating, which provide houses with heat and hot water, existed so-called particle separator, which could reduce the particulate matter emissions by more than 80 percent. This is suggested by measurements made by Friedrich. The former official at the Federal Ministry for the Environment demands that the problem be tackled quickly. "Otherwise, we will soon see an increase in typical respiratory diseases, which are due to the high particulate matter and soot concentrations," says Friedrich.
This topic comes from the new SPIEGEL magazine - available at the kiosk from Saturday morning and every Friday at SPIEGEL + and in the digital magazine edition.
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