Actions and strategies for the urban pollution produced by heating plants

In urban areas, the emission of pollutants produced in combustion processes causes the air contamination. Regarding traditional combustion products released from heating plants of residential sector, a study on their environmental impact and the proposal of appropriate strategies for urban pollution reduction, has been carried out. In the first part, some initiatives to reduce urban air pollution linked to heating systems operation, in order to increase the livableness of cities, are proposed. In the second part, a quantitative comparison among different fossil fuels which supply heating plants, both under the environmental and safety points of view, has been carried out. The investigation has included solar-hydrogen as new and cleaner energy carrier for the future. At this purpose, suitable quality indexes which measure the flammability and the expansiveness characteristics of the fuels have been introduced. Another quality index was used in order to evaluate the environmental impact, by considering the pollutant substances produced during the combustion reaction. Finally, a classification among the considered fuels was determined by means a global impact index, which summarizes all the mentioned aspects. An economic analysis involving the real costs of considered fuels was carried out by moving the focus of the investigation to the end of the process of energy production, and by extending the evaluation of the real costs by including the effects produced from the final use