[danw1979]

There’s an old dude upwind from our house who still heats his home with coal.. probably the last in our village of 4000 people which has had mains gas since the 1990s.

It’s choking outside in the winter, just from this one fire. I’m thinking about offering to put in a heat pump for him and pick up his electricity bill, it’s that bad.

Imagine what it was like when everyone used to heat with it !

[input_sh]

You don't have to imagine it, just look at Balkan capitals that are falling behind.

Sarajevo: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=sarajevo+winter+smog&t=ffab&iar=im...

Skopje: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=skoplje+winter+smog&t=ffab&iar=ima...

Keep in mind that both of these are in the valley surrounded by hills and mountains, forcing the smog to stay for days during colder weather with no rain or snow to disperse it.

On top of that, there's a report published this month that estimates about 19k deaths across Europe in the past three years because of coal-powered power plants in the WB6 area: https://www.euronews.com/2021/09/07/western-balkan-power-pla...

[5e92cb50239222b]

Not bad by European measures, though still pretty light compared to many regions of Asia (speaking from rich experience, sadly)

https://aqicn.org/city/bosnia-herzegovina/sarajevo/us-embass...

https://aqicn.org/city/macedonia/centar/

(Scroll and look for "Air quality historical data")

[5e92cb50239222b]

Hey, at least you have only one such neighbor. Imagine how bad it is with a few thousand of them, burning sulfur-rich coal 10-11 months a year with a few plastic bottles and car tires thrown in for good measure. Wait, I don't have to imagine it, just take a look outside.

[mensetmanusman]

Highly recommend the Crown episode ‘The Fog’ that goes into how bad it once was in London.