Reconceiving Domestic Burning Controls: Air Quality Alerts, Behavioural Responsive Regulation, and Designing for Compliance

Heydon, James; Chakraborty, Rohit; Patel, Vibhuti; Wood, Chantelle; Wood, Matthew; Bunce, Caitlin

Abstract

Domestic combustion emissions pose a growing risk to public health, especially in the UK. Existing responses are polarised, with government advocating use of lower emission fuels and stoves while clean air campaigners call for blanket bans on burning. However, each approach is limited in its ability to control these emissions. An alternative can be found in the U.S.A., where ‘burn alert’ systems require stove and fireplace users to avoid lighting during periods of actual or projected poor air quality. Given the effectiveness of these regimes, the current study designs and evaluates the effectiveness and acceptability of a burn alert system in the UK for the first time, drawing on the theoretical perspective of behavioural responsive regulation. Fifty participants were recruited to use the system over 2 weeks in winter. The findings illustrate that a voluntary burn alert system can dissuade burning among users. Of those in receipt of an alert, 74% reduced burning frequency or burned for a shorter duration. In total, the alert system prevented at least 178 hours of burning for this group. Qualitative findings show that the consistency of the behavioural response is influenced by technical, structural, and environmental factors, providing key insight into how UK-based burn alert systems could be modified to increase the consistency of compliance in future. The overall conclusion is that burn alerts could be introduced in the UK and beyond, as a means of reducing domestic combustion emissions and their associated public health risks.

Citation

Heydon, J., Chakraborty, R., Patel, V., Wood, C., Wood, M., & Bunce, C. (2024). Reconceiving Domestic Burning Controls: Air Quality Alerts, Behavioural Responsive Regulation, and Designing for Compliance. Environmental Management, https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-024-02014-z

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 5, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Aug 9, 2024
• Publication Date: Aug 9, 2024
• Deposit Date: Jul 11, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 9, 2025
• Journal: Environmental Management
• Print ISSN: 0364-152X
• Electronic ISSN: 1432-1009
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-024-02014-z
• Keywords: Air quality, Behavioural responsive regulation, Air pollution, Compliance, Domestic combustion, Behaviour change
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/37153599
• Publisher URL: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00267-024-02014-z
• Additional Information: Received: 24 October 2023; Accepted: 5 July 2024; First Online: 9 August 2024; : ; : During this study, RC received a salary from Air Rated where he was employed as an air pollution scientist. The authors declare no competing interests.; : The research involved human participants. Each provided free, prior and informed consent before taking part.