• Energy Research

Scientific investigations have progressively refined our understanding of the influence of the environment on human health, and the many adverse impacts that human activities exert on the environment, from the local to the planetary level. Nonetheless, throughout the modern public health era, health has been pursued as though our lives and lifestyles are disconnected from ecosystems and their component organisms. The inadequacy of the societal and public health response to obesity, health inequities, and especially global environmental and climate change now calls for an ecological approach which addresses human activity in all its social, economic and cultural complexity. The new approach must be integral to, and interactive, with the natural environment. We see the continuing failure to truly integrate human health and environmental impact analysis as deeply damaging, and we propose a new conceptual model, the ecosystems-enriched Drivers, Pressures, State, Exposure, Effects, Actions or 'eDPSEEA' model, to address this shortcoming. The model recognizes convergence between the concept of ecosystems services which provides a human health and well-being slant to the value of ecosystems while equally emphasizing the health of the environment, and the growing calls for 'ecological public health' as a response to global environmental concerns now suffusing the discourse in public health. More revolution than evolution, ecological public health will demand new perspectives regarding the interconnections among society, the economy, the environment and our health and well-being. Success must be built on collaborations between the disparate scientific communities of the environmental sciences and public health as well as interactions with social scientists, economists and the legal profession. It will require outreach to political and other stakeholders including a currently largely disengaged general public. The need for an effective and robust science-policy interface has never been more pressing. Conceptual models can facilitate this by providing theoretical frameworks and supporting stakeholder engagement process simplifications for inherently complex situations involving environment and human health and well-being. They can be tools to think with, to engage, to communicate and to help navigate in a sea of complexity. We believe models such as eDPSEEA can help frame many of the issues which have become the challenges of the new public health era and can provide the essential platforms necessary for progress.

Local strategies to reduce green-house gases (GHG) imply changes of non-climatic exposure patterns.To assess the health impacts of locally relevant transport-related climate change policies in Basel, Switzerland.We modelled change in mortality and morbidity for the year 2020 based on several locally relevant transport scenarios including all decided transport policies up to 2020, additional realistic and hypothesized traffic reductions, as well as ambitious diffusion levels of electric cars. The scenarios were compared to the reference condition in 2010 assumed as status quo. The changes in non-climatic population exposure included ambient air pollution, physical activity, and noise. As secondary outcome, changes in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) were put into perspective with predicted changes of CO2 emissions and fuel consumption.Under the scenario that assumed a strict particle emissions standard in diesel cars and all planned transport measures, 3% of premature deaths could be prevented from projected PM2.5 exposure reduction. A traffic reduction scenario assuming more active trips provided only minor added health benefits for any of the changes in exposure considered. A hypothetical strong support to electric vehicles diffusion would have the largest health effectiveness given that the energy production in Basel comes from renewable sources.The planned local transport related GHG emission reduction policies in Basel are sensible for mitigating climate change and improving public health. In this context, the most effective policy remains increasing zero-emission vehicles.

The aim of this study was to determine the bronchoalveolar leukocyte response to airborne coal mine dust; quartz and titanium dioxide were used as positive and negative controls, respectively. Groups of rats were exposed to airborne mass concentrations of 10 and 50 mg/m3 of the dusts for 7 hr/day, 5 days/week and their bronchoalveolar space was lavaged at time points between 2 and 75 days of exposure, to assess the leukocyte response. This study revealed time-dependent and airborne mass concentration-dependent recruitment of neutrophils and macrophages into the bronchoalveolar region with coal mine dust inhalation but no real difference in the magnitude of the response between coal mine dusts from collieries mining coal of different rank and quartz content although the maximum quartz content in the dusts used was 6%. The inflammatory response was much less than that produced by quartz, at similar airborne mass concentrations, and more than that produced by titanium dioxide which was, in general, a poor inflammogen in the rat lung. Groups of rats were exposed to the airborne dusts for 32 or 75 days, then removed from the exposure chambers, and allowed to recover by breathing room air for a further 64 days. During this recovery period there was marked progression of the leukocyte response with quartz and persistence of the response with coal mine dust. Chronic recruitment of leukocytes to the lungs of individuals inhaling coal mine dust is likely to be an important factor in the development of coal workers' pneumoconiosis.

There are limited data describing pollutant levels inside homes that burn solid fuel within developed country settings with most studies describing test conditions or the effect of interventions. This study recruited homes in Ireland and Scotland where open combustion processes take place. Open combustion was classified as coal, peat, or wood fuel burning, use of a gas cooker or stove, or where there is at least one resident smoker. Twenty-four-hour data on airborne concentrations of particulate matter <2.5 mu m in size (PM2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), endotoxin in inhalable dust and carbon dioxide (CO2), together with 23 week averaged concentrations of nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were collected in 100 houses during the winter and spring of 2009-2010. The geometric mean of the 24-h time-weighted-average (TWA) PM2.5 concentration was highest in homes with resident smokers (99 mu g/m3 much higher than the WHO 24-h guidance value of 25 mu g/m3). Lower geometric mean 24-h TWA levels were found in homes that burned coal (7 mu g/m3) or wood (6 mu g/m3) and in homes with gas cookers (7 mu g/m3). In peat-burning homes, the average 24-h PM2.5 level recorded was 11 mu g/m3. Airborne endotoxin, CO, CO2, and NO2 concentrations were generally within indoor air quality guidance levels. Practical Implications Little is known about indoor air quality (IAQ) in homes that burn solid or fossil-derived fuels in economically developed countries. Recent legislative changes have moved to improve IAQ at work and in enclosed public places, but there remains a real need to begin the process of quantifying the health burden that arises from indoor air pollution within domestic environments. This study demonstrates that homes in Scotland and Ireland that burn solid fuels or gas for heating and cooking have concentrations of air pollutants generally within guideline levels. Homes where combustion of cigarettes takes place have much poorer air quality.