Indoor emissions affect air-quality standards

Mains Paper 3 : Conservation, Environmental Pollution & Degradation, Eia |

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important :

Prelims level : Not Much

Mains level : Role of indoor pollution in PM2.5

Household emissions remained one of the major culprits behind PM 2.5 air pollution in India.

Household emission in India

A recent study has pointed out that the use of firewood, kerosene and coal in the households contributed to about 40% of the PM 2.5 pollution in the Gangetic basin districts.
The results showed that by eliminating household emissions the average outdoor air pollution levels could be reduced and brought within the national ambient air quality standards.
The paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science notes that if all households transitioned to clean fuels, about 13% of premature mortality in India could be averted.
At the national scale, mitigating household emissions is also expected to bring large health benefits.
In many villages, they still use firewood for room heating and water heating. People prefer cheap wood fuel despite LPG being provided to many households.

Using Satellite data

Using satellite data and chemical transport model simulations, the researchers pointed out that complete mitigation would bring down the country’s average annual PM 2.5 air pollution to 38 microgram/cubic metre.
Surprisingly, this is below India’s national ambient air quality standard of 40 microgram/cubic metre and slightly above the World Health Organization (interim target 1) standards of 35 microgram/cubic metre.

Need for a multipronged approach

But India’s pollution problem is much bigger than often perceived.
The study has demonstrated that mitigating at a household level is the easiest and more practical way out for the government to reduce not only the household pollution but also outdoor air pollution at the national scale.

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