Health impact assessment in case of biofuel peat – Co-use of environmental scenarios and exposure-response functions

Peat will be used more widely for heating in Tartu (Estonia), therefore the potential health effects needed to be assessed. In transition from today's gas heating to burning of peat, the amount of exhaust gases emitted will increase and more than 100 000 people will be exposed to greater health risks. Based on the peat quality data, the emissions were calculated and their dispersion in Tartu was modelled using the air pollution dispersion and deposition model AEROPOL. The AirQ software, developed by the WHO, was used for calculating the health impacts. The number of years of life lost (YLL) due to the emissions from peat burning was estimated to be up to 55.5 in a year within the population of Tartu (101 000 citizens). However, in perspective, this would be about 28 times less than YLL calculated due to emissions from traffic, local heating etc.