Client: Department of the Environment, Climate, and Communications
In 2021, a suite of new nationwide solid fuel regulations were formally proposed to address the impacts associated with residential emissions of air pollutants. In response, EnvEcon developed a methodology to deliver a policy impact assessment on the proposed regulations. The objective of this was to estimate the associated emissions, health, and environmental impacts of the proposed changes, subject to specific defined assumptions. The analysis considered: the requirement for coal, coal-based products, any manufactured solid fuel, or peat briquettes to have a smoke rate below 10 g/hr; the requirement for wood to have a moisture content below 25% by September 2022; and the phasing out of peat briquettes by Bord na Mona by 2024. A time-series analysis was presented for 2023–2025 to capture the impacts of defined transitions.
