Earlier this year , the tiny , pizza - lie with town of San Vitaliano , Italy , made headlineswhen its mayor issued a three - calendar month banning on the use of wood - fire ovens to curb local smog spirit level . grow out , San Vitaliano is n’t the only town that ’s shinny with the environmental consequences of manipulate up the cheesy Italian basic . grant to Vox , a Modern newspaper publisher published in the journalAtmospheric Environmentsuggests that São Paulo , Brazil ’s staggering strain pollution level are partially due to Mrs. Henry Wood - burn ovens bump in pizza parlor and other restaurants .
Home to 21 million people , São Paulo is Brazil ’s largest metropolis , and the world ’s fifth - largest metropolitan area . And where there are mountain of people , there are lots of cars . In fact , the urban center ’s streets and parking lots are fill with or so 7 million route vehicles . These exhaust - belching vehicles are responsible for most of São Paulo ’s melodic phrase pollution . However , expert from seven outside universities , includingDr . Prashant Kumarof the University of Surrey , noted that São Paulo ’s residents fill their vehicle with a mostly “ uninfected ” biofuel comprising sugarcane fermentation alcohol , gasohol ( 75 per centum petrol , 25 percent ethanol ) , and soya diesel .
" It became evident from our work that despite there not being the same high level of pollutant from vehicles in the metropolis as other megacities , there had not been much consideration of some of the unaccounted sources of emanation , ” Kumar , the bailiwick ’s lead source , say in a release . “ These include wood burning in G of pizza pie shops or domestic wasteland burning at the stake . "
So Kumar and his colleagues took a closer facial expression at Brazilians ’ dearest affair with pizza , note that São Paulo ’s 8000 pizza pie parlors produce most one million pizzas a day . Many of these front room still use old - fashioned , wood - burning stoves — which collectively burn 307,000 long ton of wood each year . And that ’s not even count the unregulated emissions from steakhouses and other eateries .
The study ’s researchers concluded that in São Paulo , oven emissions might in reality be contradict the positive effects of green biofuels — although another co - source , North Carolina State University’sDr . Yang Zhang , noted that most air caliber studies in Brazil have focalise on the impact of vehicle emission , and not on wood and coal burning and kernel - cooking in pizzerias and restaurants . So far , the panel ’s still out on how much enjoying sens - charred foods actually contribute to São Paulo ’s environmental pollution . However , these kitchen staple , along with biomass sting from the neighbor Amazon rain forest , are potentially major factor .
Along with tweaking São Paulo ’s fare policy to reduce strain pollution , restaurant owner can equip their oven with special filters or purifying systems to help curb the terms they ’re doing to the environs . It might be a lowly step to take in response to a large trouble , but when you keep in nous that4655 multitude died as a result of tune pollutionin São Paulo in 2011 , every fiddling bit help .
[ h / tVox ]
