A way to clean air – then and now
How much harmful substances are emitted into the atmosphere in Poland? The media usually talk about carbon dioxide emissions, but this is a greenhouse gas. What directly affects our health and harms the environment are pollutants like nitrogen oxis, sulfur oxides, and fine particulate matter such as PM10 and PM2.5.
Judging by complaints about air quality and alarming articles, it may seem that the air quality in Poland is extremely poor. And indeed, there is still much to be done in this field. However, the improvement is significant. Emissions of harmful pollutants into the atmosphere have been consistently decreasing, primarily due to investments in industry, filters, and more efficient technologies. Unfortunately, despite campaigns promoting the replacement of stoves and raising awareness, progress in households has been much slower.
Let’s look at the data from the Central Statistical Office (GUS) for the years 2008–2021 concerning the most significant pollutants: nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and fine particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5). After analyzing their impact on the environment and human health, and converting this into a common denominator by monetizing the negative effects (in zlotys per kilogram of substance emitted into the atmosphere), the situation looks as follows: according to the announcement from the Minister of Climate and Environment, the particulate matter—depending on its source—is between 1205 and 4923 times more harmful than the greenhouse gas CO2, while both oxides are each one 1795 times more undesirable. In total, 1,75 million tons of these pollutants were emitted into the atmosphere in 2021. Fourteen years earlier, it was 2,62 million tons. It means a decrease of exactly one-third.
Previously, we could really blame industrial polluters. They were responsible for 72% of emissions. But industry has done its part, and emissions have decreased in total by 43%. Today, the households are responsible for emission of 39% of the mentioned four types of pollutants whereas emission of PM2.5 by households is three times more than their emission by industry, and emission of PM10 by households is 1,6 times more than their emission by industry. And what’s worse, homes and apartments produce over 200.000 tons of pollutants annually, and in fact nothing ever changes in this field. A longer and harsher winter always takes its toll.
Nevertheless, pollutant levels visible on Poland’s air quality maps are steadily improving, although not everywhere. There are still municipalities where life is difficult.
Fortunately, there are solutions even for what has already been emitted. One of them is Pamares, our air ionization system that attracts electrified particles, cleans the environment not only from PMs resulting from pollution from burning low-quality fuel in outdated stoves but also from pollution caused by transport. When installed on streetlights or as free-standing installations, it reduces the concentration of all PM fractions by several dozen percent in an area of 150 square meters around it. And since air quality standards will tighten in the coming years, we should prepare for it right now.
