Our life and health depend on ambient air. Ambient air is an air layer close to the ground.
Factors affecting the quality of ambient air
- Various chemical compounds, some of which are damaging to health while others are neutral in respect to people but not the environment (for example, carbon dioxide CO2);
- Noise;
- Dust;
- Vibration;
- Non-ionizing radiation (ultraviolet radiation);
- Electromagnetic fields.
The quality of ambient air is primarily influenced by industry, generation of electricity and heat, including local heating, using chemicals, as well as road, maritime, and air transport, for example.
What can you do?
One of the most problematic sectors in which the air pollution is emitted directly in the vicinity of people and is often diffused poorly in the atmosphere is local heating. As the temperature in your stove at home is lower compared to the temperatures involved in industrial incineration, such burning emits considerably more pollutants, including more fine particles and carcinogens which are most hazardous to human health. It is very important to use as dry and clean wood as possible for heating, waste should never be burnt in the stove at home, and district heating or other solutions which reduce the air pollution should be preferred, if possible.
Public transport or another less-polluting solution, such as a bicycle, should always be preferred in the interests of air quality, if possible. In order to reduce the emissions from vehicles, higher-quality fuel and more economic cars should be used which are also equipped with a catalyst for reducing the pollutant concentration of the car emissions.
Where to find information?
Real time information about the ambient air quality in Estonia can be found from the map application of the Estonian Environmental Research Centre.
A brief overview of the emissions of air pollutants in Estonia is available on the website of the Environment Agency.
All environmental permits are collected to the information system for environmental decisions (KOTKAS).