Smoke and mirrors
烟与镜
Wood-burning stoves, the picturesque polluters
燃木火炉--美丽有毒
The government wages a careful battle against a middle-class favourite
英国政府谨慎地发动一场抵制中产阶级偏好的斗争
INTERIOR-DESIGN magazines and television programmes have in recent years fuelled a fashion for wood-burning stoves. About 7.5% of homes in Britain burn wood for ambience or warmth, according to a survey in 2015. By now the share is probably higher, since about 175,000 new stoves are sold each year.
近年来，许多室内设计杂志和电视节目对燃木火炉的风靡一时起到了“助燃”作用。根据2015年的一项调查，英国约有7.5%的家庭用燃烧木材装饰，或取暖。如今，这一数字或许会更高，因为新燃木火炉的年销量约为17.5万只。
The trouble is that the wholesome-looking burners are big emitters of fine particles, specks of dust and soot measuring less than 2.5 micrometres (0.0025 millimetres) which sink deep into the lungs and pass into the bloodstream, causing respiratory and heart diseases. Britain has made strides in reducing fine-particle pollution from most sources in the past few decades (see chart). But home wood-burning has rocketed, and now accounts for 38% of the particles emitted in Britain, more than twice the amount spewed by vehicles.
问题在于，这种看似有益健康的火炉却排放大量直径小于2.5微米（0.0025毫米）的细颗粒物,灰尘和烟尘。这些物质会深入人体肺部，渗入血液，引发呼吸道和心脏疾病。在过去几十年里，英国致力于减少大多数污染源中的细颗粒物，并取得了长足进步（见图表），但是燃烧木材的现象在急剧攀升，如今，英国家庭燃木的颗粒物排放量是汽车的两倍多，占全国总排放量的38%。
Wary of parting voters from the treasured centrepieces of their sitting rooms, the government is treading gently with its clean-air plan. On August 17th it proposed a ban on the sale of coal for home burning, as well as restrictions on the sale of recently felled wood, which is less energy efficient and emits twice as much smoke as the dry sort. But such a ban would apply to less than a fifth of the logs currently tossed into home wood-burners.
英国政府对迫使选民放弃起居室内最引人注目的装饰品保持高度警惕，现正在小心翼翼地推行空气净化方案。8月17日，英国政府宣布禁止销售家用煤炭，限制销售新近砍伐的木材。相比干木，新鲜木材能效较低，排烟量高达两倍之多。不过，在近期扔进家用火炉的木头中，占不到1/5的份额能受到禁令的影响。
Earlier this year ministers also suggested that new stoves should face much stricter limits on emissions. Yet even the stoves that pass this new standard, labelled as eco-friendly, emit three times more particles per hour than a lorry. An article in the British Medical Journal called for a “polluter-pays” tax on new stoves, to equal the associated health costs, which it put at £889 ($1,150) per stove each year in inner London.
今年早些时候，英国多位部长也提出，应对新火炉施行更严格的限排标准。然而，即使符合了这一标准和贴上了环保标签，这些火炉在同等一个小时内的颗粒物排放量也是一辆卡车排放量的三倍。《英国医学杂志》曾发文呼吁对新火炉使用者收取“污染者负担” 税，应对由新火炉带来的卫生成本。文章提出，内伦敦地区每年每只火炉应承担889英镑（1150美元）的税。
The biggest problem is enforcing the rules in the smoke-control zones, such as central London. In theory, residents who use non-compliant stoves or burn the wrong fuel face a £1,000 fine. But unclear guidelines and local authorities’ weak powers of enforcement mean that compliance is largely voluntary. The black smoke will continue to waft from the chimneys of well-to-do homes until wood-burners go back out of fashion.
而最大的难题是在伦敦中部等排烟控制区强制推行该法令。理论上而言，居民使用违规的火炉和非法的燃料，将面临1000英镑的罚款。但实际上，含糊其辞的法令和力量薄弱的执法部门意味着“守法”在很大程度上是居民自愿的事情。在燃木火炉过时之前，滚滚黑烟仍会持续从有钱家庭的烟囱中飘出。（译：王珮）
https://www.economist.com/britain/2018/08/25/wood-burning-stoves-the-picturesque-polluters
