Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/41483
Title: Accurate, Low Cost PM2.5 Measurements Demonstrate the Large Spatial Variation in Wood Smoke Pollution in Regional Australia and Improve Modeling and Estimates of Health Costs
Contributor(s): Robinson, Dorothy L  (author)orcid 
Publication Date: 2020-08
Open Access: Yes
DOI: 10.3390/atmos11080856
Handle Link: https://hdl.handle.net/1959.11/41483
Abstract: 

The accuracy and utility of low-cost PM2.5 sensors was evaluated for measuring spatial variation and modeling population exposure to PM2.5 pollution from domestic wood-heating (DWH) in Armidale, a regional town in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, to obtain estimates of health costs and mortality. Eleven 'PurpleAir' (PA) monitors were deployed, including five located part of the time at the NSW government station (NSWGov) to derive calibration equations. Calibrated PA PM2.5 were almost identical to the NSWGov tapered element oscillating microbalance (TEOM) and Armidale Regional Council's 2017 DustTrak measurements. Spatial variation was substantial. National air quality standards were exceeded 32 times from May-August 2018 at NSWGov and 63 times in one residential area. Wood heater use by about 50% of households increased estimated annual PM2.5 exposure by over eight micrograms per cubic meter, suggesting increased mortality of about 10% and health costs of thousands of dollars per wood heater per year. Accurate real-time community-based monitoring can improve estimates of exposure and avoid bias in estimating dose-response relationships. Efforts over the past decade to reduce wood smoke pollution proved ineffective, perhaps partly because some residents do not understand the health impacts or costs of wood-heating. Real-time Internet displays can increase awareness of DWH and bushfire pollution and encourage governments to develop effective policies to protect public health, as recommended by several recent studies in which wood smoke was identified as a major source of health-hazardous air pollution.

Publication Type: Journal Article
Source of Publication: Atmosphere, 11(8), p. 1-21
Publisher: MDPI AG
Place of Publication: Switzerland
ISSN: 2073-4433
Fields of Research (FoR) 2020: 370102 Air pollution processes and air quality measurement
420203 Environmental epidemiology
380108 Health economics
Socio-Economic Objective (SEO) 2020: 180101 Air quality
190299 Environmental policy, legislation and standards not elsewhere classified
200499 Public health (excl. specific population health) not elsewhere classified
Peer Reviewed: Yes
HERDC Category Description: C1 Refereed Article in a Scholarly Journal
Appears in Collections:Journal Article
School of Environmental and Rural Science

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