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How many years of our life away pollution?

London fog, smoke over the Ruhr area. It is an old legend. Air pollution in these areas is declining. Air quality in Europe in recent decades has significantly improved. Nevertheless, the concentration of toxins is still high enough to pose a danger to health. It shows the results of a survey of the European Agency for the protection of the environment (EUA) based in Copenhagen. EUA examined about 14 thousand industrial plants and power plants in order to calculate the costs arising from air pollution. They, according to the results for 2012 amount to at least 59 billion euros and a maximum 189 billion euros, depending on the model of economic damages.

Air pollution is not reduced especially in cities, where they live most of the European population, the measured percentage of harmful ingredients such as ozone, nitrogen dioxide and fine dust often exceeds the limit. "Half of the cost caused by pollution created by one percent of industrial plants. It's scary, "said Director of EUA Hans Brujninks. The second finding is that among the 30 major air pollutants are 26 thermal power plants - mostly from Germany, then from Poland, Bulgaria and Romania. But the chemical and steel industries produce large quantities of hazardous substances in the air. "That one of the biggest polluters are eight plants in Germany, it is nothing new.

But they must be emphasized that the absolute amount they produce huge amounts of carbon dioxide, but relatively speaking, still produce electricity more efficiently than power plants in Eastern Europe and France, "says Arne Felerman European Bureau of Environmental Protection. EUA five years working on this research. In the period from 2008 to 2012 the cost of pollution was at least 329 billion euros, and up to 1.053 billion euros. EUA also presented data that near these industrial plants grow and the cost of hospitalization, mostly because of heart or respiratory disease, the number of deaths and the number of sick leave.

But society also pays and the loss of working days due to damages caused by poor harvests, and because of the growing consumption of energy, he says. Therefore, Felerman says must ask the question: what will happen to the industry? If we want to achieve energy goals or accept pollution as a necessary evil? And how much it will cost?