New wood heaters - estimated health costs per year: $6,707 (Sydney), $5,889 (Melbourne) & several thousand dollars in most urban areas

In March 2023, the NSW Government published comprehensive estimates of the health cost of wood heater pollution in Greater Sydney, amounting to $302.15 - $330.55 per kg of wood heater PM2.5 emissions (see Table 9).  In the entire metropolitan area from Newcastle to Wollongong, wood heater pollution accounted for 42% of annual population-weighted PM2.5 exposure. The consultation draft provided more details showing that in Sydney, the proportion attributed to wood heaters was 46%.

Real-life emissions tests in New Zealand show that heaters with AS/NZS ratings < 1.2 g/kg have average real-life emissions of 6.47 g/kg, so a heater with AS/NZS rating < 1.2 g/kg burning Sydney’s average of 3.43 tonnes of firewood will emit 3.43 x 6.47 = 22.22 kg of PM2.5 with estimated health cost of $6,707 per year using the lower of the two health cost estimates per kg of PM2.5 emissions ($302.15).

For Melbourne, the recent Victoria Policy Impact Assessment [7] used estimated health costs published by PA Holmes in 2013 of $190/tonne of PM2.5 emissions. Adjusting for inflation (1st quarter of 2013 to last quarter of 2022), the updated cost is $242.7 per kg of emissions, i.e. $5,889 per year for a brand-new heater with AS/NZS 4013 < 1.2 g/kg burning Melbourne’s average of 3.75 tonnes of firewood per year.

Noting that new wood heaters are almost as polluting as older models, and that existing wood heaters in Armidale, NSW, have estimated health costs of over $10,000 per heater per year, and that the average new wood heater will pollutes an area 350 x 350 x 10 metres to the World Health Organisation annual limit in less than an hour, health costs of thousands of dollars per heater per year can be expected in most urban areas.

Sadly, all attempts to set a stricter health-based standard in Australia have failed; the only changes to be implemented are those approved by the wood heating industry.  Moreover, despite the fact that New Zealand's Canterbury 1 standard has much lower real-life emissions, the Australian wood heating industry continues to sell new heaters using untrue claim that "Australia has the toughest standards in the world" 7News, 9 Aug 2021.

Wood smoke contains the same and very similar toxic chemicals to cigarette smoke, including PAH (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons), many of which are listed as known human carcinogens.  Scientists measure the combined cancer-causing potential in terms of BaP equivalents. Many wood heater users are unaware that an evening's heat produced by burning 10 kg of Australian hardwood in an enclosed wood heater results in the emission of the BaP-equivalent to the PAH in the smoke from over 400,000 cigarettes.

Because of the problems of wood heater pollution in the Australian Capital Territory, a report in 2023 by Dr Sophie Lewis, ACT Commissioner for Sustainability and the Environment, recommends not allowing any new heaters to be installed and phasing out existing heaters.

It is natural for people to believe that if a product satisfies an Australian standard, it must be ‘safe’.   If people knew and understood the risks to their health, e.g. that the “Growing up in New Zealand” study found that every additional modern woodstove per hectare increased by 7% the risk children under 3 would need hospital emergency treatment for all conditions except accidental injury, would they choose non-polluting alternatives with lower running costs than buying firewood? 

Would Australians choose to install heaters with emissions similar to the ones now considered so polluting that they can no longer be used in Christchurch?

The current untenable situation arose because the wood heating industry was able to exert undue influence on the Australian Standards Committee.   In 2007, when a majority of Standards Committee members supported by 15 votes to 4 to halve the emissions limit as an interim measure while a new test to measure real-life emissions was being developed, there was no majority support from the 4 representatives of wood heating industry, so the process was abandoned.

Subsequent updates to the Australian Standard appear to have been initiated by the wood heating industry. There is no evidence that Committee ever considered the much better performance of the New Zealand Canterbury test, or the New Zealand research showing that real-life emissions of new heaters satisfying the current test are little better than those measured in Launceston in 2005. 

At the Tasmanian session of the Healthy Environments and Lives Conference on 18 November 2021, there was general agreement that the current Australian Standard is totally inadequate. For example, the presentation by Dr John Todd noted that “our Standards are out of date”  Indeed, there was general agreement by all contributors to the panel session that "The current approach of having an Australian standard - a very inadequate standard - just doesn't work"

If you believe that Australians deserve better,  let us know by email: ausairqual@gmail.com 

No safe level of PM2.5 pollution

Tiny particles known as PM2.5 are considered the most hazardous air pollutant. They are so small they behave like gases and enter our homes when all doors and windows are shut. They also penetrate the deepest recesses of our lungs and can cross into the bloodstream, carrying toxins to every organ of the body. Several of the toxins in wood smoke are known to cause cancers.

Researchers at the Centre for Air pollution, energy and health Research (CAR, an NHMRC Centre of Research Excellence) found that long-term exposure to PM2.5 pollution in Australia leads to over 2,600 deaths resulting in 38,962 lost years of life, with estimated cost of $6.2 billion every year.

As well as the increased risk of mortality, PM2.5 pollution is associated with increased risk heart attacks, strokes, lung diseases, cancers, dementia, eye diseases, asthma, premature births, low birthweights, autism, genetic damage in babies, reduced IQ and behavioural problems when children start school and poorer educational achievement in older children.

If people knew and understood the risks to their health, e.g. that even 1 modern wood heater the “Growing up in New Zealand” study found that every additional modern woodstove per hectare increased by 7% the risk children under 3 would need hospital emergency treatment for all conditions except accidental injury, would they choose non-polluting alternatives with lower running costs than buying firewood? 

In recognition of the increased risk, Australian fire-fighters suffering from leukaemia, non-Hodgkin lymphoma, multiple myeloma or brain, bladder, breast, colorectal, kidney, testicular, kidney, prostate, ureter or oesophageal cancers automatically qualify for workers’ compensation after several years of service.

Two really good videos on the subject are: WHO: Breathe Life 80 sec video: How air pollution impacts your body. Air pollution is an invisible killer that lurks all around us, preying on the young and old. Learn how it slips unnoticed past our body's defences causing deaths from heart attack, strokes, lung disease and cancer. And the UNICEF 170 sec video: What does Air Pollution PM 2.5 do inside children's body and brain