Wood heaters
We support the Draft Policy which, if implemented, will mean new applications to install solid fuel heaters (commonly referred to as wood heaters) will not be approved in urban areas of the Queanbeyan-Palerang Local Government Area (LGA), and enforcement action can be taken against unapproved wood heaters.
The home environment is crucial for health and wellbeing. People inhale 11,000 litres of air per day on average, mostly inside homes. Even small amounts of air pollution in the home environment can have a significant impact on health. Moreover, the people who are most vulnerable to air pollution (children, older adults and people with disabilities) spend a greater proportion of time indoors where they are exposed to a number of hazards relating to heating and cooking appliances, sealing and ventilation. As such, enhancing minimum rental standards presents a major opportunity to improve air quality in rental properties and consequently the health of renters.
Wood heater smoke is the major source of particulate air pollution (PM2.5) in most Australian capital cities and many regional areas, often exceeding pollution from industry and traffic.
In this webinar Centre for Safe Air postdoctoral research fellow, Dr. Nicolás Borchers Arriagada, presented new research findings regarding the health impacts of wood heater pollution across Australia and the benefits of replacing wood heaters with cleaner heating technologies.
He was joined by Kate Garvey, a senior policy maker with the Tasmanian Department of Health and a health consumer whose respiratory condition is impacted by winter wood smoke.
The discussion and a Q&A was facilitated by Dr Sabrina Idrose, Centre for Safe Air postdoctoral research fellow and webinar coordinator.
Access the YouTube recording here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUjy1u4HrEU&ab_channel=CentreforSafeAir
The data visualisation tool maps wood heater pollution-related health impacts across Australia from a 2024 study. Using this tool you can explore the estimates by State/Territory, by Greater Capital City Statistical Area, or by Statistical Area Level 4. The tool also enables you to select what estimates to display: wood heater emissions (WHE) (kg/year), population-weighted WHE-fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations, the number of earlier than expected deaths, or deaths per 100,000 people.
In our newly released factsheet, we have outlined how smoke from wood heaters affects health and what can be done about it.
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