There has been no talk of air quality in the Po basin for many months. There are no traces of it in newspapers and television reports on climate change. After being identified as a contributing cause of the spread of Covid-19 also due to areas scarce greens. One would be inclined to say that the situation has improved and that the only real emergency is water. Unfortunately, things are not like this. In addition to drought the North continues to be besieged by smog and very serious emissions. The are not enough emergency measures taken, then disapplied, then resumed or simply announced to lighten the weight of a threat that has become almost structural. Federchimica has dedicated a debate with representatives of politics and industry to this context which worries us.
The emissions come from wood and pellets
Domestic heating and transport are finished in the dock. Nothing new, fine, but second Assogasliquidi in both sectors we need to reverse course due to the effects on air pollution and public health. As we said two years ago, it is necessary identify the actions useful for reducing the emissions of fine particles and other pollutants. In the past time, emergency measures have been put in place to exceed the levels of attention in the cities. For the entire Po basin, say the industrialists, the choices need to be rethought due to the impact that some energy sources generate on air quality. What sources? Biomass, wood and pellets specifically, which they have dust emissions even two orders of magnitude higher than gas plants. The smog emission values in domestic environments are far higher than those associated with the use of gaseous products. This is truly news, an indictment directed at sources that the energy transition values. Italy, it was said in the political-manager meeting, has been encouraging these sources for many years, which are among the main causes of emissions of fine particles in the heating sector. The alternative these are gases that have emissions of fine particles close to zero. In the bio and renewable versions, these gases can also contribute to a substantial reduction in CO2 emissions. Arguments that change the structural perspective and economics of the Italian green transition.
The State encourages gas cars
“In our opinion we need to reverse course and review some choices- he said Andrea Arzà President of Assogasliquidi-Federchimica. For this we turn to politics. There are signs, such as the critical issues highlighted in Europe with respect to the categorical decision to focus on a single source starting from 2035”. While an area with millions of people and the highest concentration of industries in the country is silently suffering from smog and climate-altering phenomena, "the moment could be favorable to reconsider past wrong choices, both locally and nationally" adds Arzà. For the transport sector, Federchimica's vision becomes even more political. The car park in circulation is increasingly old and difficult to renew especially with the economic crisis. The moment does not allow families to have the necessary availability to face the expense of buying a new car. Here you touch the old button of the incentives for those who have an obsolete, highly polluting car and who – if encouraged – could decide to convert their car to gas. In this way, a new strategy is presented to politics which resizes the goodness of biomass to replace it with ecological gases. The discussion has started and against the background of a part of the peninsula in the clutches of pollution, the government will choose.
