Wood-burning stoves, the picturesque polluters
INTERIOR-DESIGN magazines and television programmes have in recent years fuelled a fashion for wood-burning stoves. About 7.5% of homes in Britain burn wood for ambience or warmth, according to a survey in 2015. By now the share is probably higher, since about 175,000 new stoves are sold each year.
The trouble is that the wholesome-looking burners are big emitters of fine particles, specks of dust and soot measuring less than 2.5 micrometres (0.0025 millimetres) which sink deep into the lungs and pass into the bloodstream, causing respiratory and heart diseases. Britain has made strides in reducing fine-particle pollution from most sources in the past few decades (see chart). But home wood-burning has rocketed, and now accounts for 38% of the particles emitted in Britain, more than twice the amount spewed by vehicles.
Wary of parting voters from the treasured centrepieces of their sitting rooms, the government is treading gently with...