The Songinokhairkhan district is home to 328 thousand people or, one-fifth of Ulaanbaatar’s population. In this northwestern district, a location from where the wind is directed towards the city, 27 thousand of the 94 thousand families live in apartments, while the rest inhabit ger districts. Bayankhoshuu has the highest number of gers and wooden houses, and therefore, has a higher coal use. This winter, people from that neighborhood have started to refer to this valley, stretching from Bayankhoshuu to Peace Avenue, as the “Sulfur Valley.”
Following the introduction of refined coal to replace raw coal last winter, the dark blue smog, which once even made it impossible to see the vehicle in front of oneself in broad daylight, cleared up dramatically. This winter, however, thick grey smog fills the valley instead of the dark blue one. The above name was given because of the headache-inducing effect and the pungent odor. What is the reason behind this shift from carbon dioxide to sulfur dioxide? How can we ever get rid of the poison in our air?
Debate around the refined coal
More than half of the households in Ulaanbaatar, 215 thousand families, live through the winter with no heating infrastructure in the ger districts, causing 80% of the air pollution. Besides, 80% of families living in the ger districts use pit latrines, which is to blame for a considerably high degree of soil contamination. Each household burns 3.5 tonnes of coal on average, collectively consuming 750 thousand tonnes of coal each year and creating big piles of ash.
In 2017, the government launched the “National Air Pollution Reduction Program,” aiming to reduce air pollution by 80% by 2025. Within the framework of this program, the burning of raw coal was banned in 2018 and refined briquette coal was supplied to households in the ger districts. In 2019, a factory was established in Songinokhairkhan district to make briquettes out of the remaining coal parts separated from coke which was transported from Umnugovi aimag. Tavantolgoi Fuel SOE is responsible for this project. Initially, the plant was designed to produce 200 thousand tons of briquettes per year. However, the demand for briquettes increased sharply. This led the plant to produce more than three times its output capacity, which caused a dramatic increase of the dust around the area and triggered complaints from residents of the neighborhood.
In the summer of 2020, a new factory has been commissioned, equipped with new technology and having three times the output capacity of its predecessor in Songinokhairkhan. The old factory in Songinokhairkhan is also scheduled to be moved to Nalaikh in the beginning of spring. These factories are assessed to be harmless to the environment. However, the winter of 2022 will show us if that is the case.
Sulfur dioxide
Despite claims of refined coal causing minimal damage to the environment, we face the need to study the effects of the briquette fuel on human health.
It has become clear that the amount of sulfur dioxide in Ulaanbaatar’s air has surged even though the amount of PM2.5 and PM10 dust particles decreased since the launch of briquette fuel. This year, sulfur dioxide emissions have tripled in comparison to last winter, reaching an average of 166 micrograms per cubic meter per week and 406 micrograms per 24-hour average. The quantity of the 24-hour average exceeds the WHO’s health recommendation of a maximum of 20 micrograms by 20 times, and the Mongolian air quality standards of a maximum of 50 micrograms by six times. Moreover, there are no instruments to measure the health hazards of the fume in Mongolia.
According to Mongolia’s standards, the sulfur volume in enriched coal must not exceed 1% MNS 6226:2011, while the maximum percentage allowed is 0.3-0.5% for raw coal and 0.8-0.9% for refined coal. Refined briquette coal is derived from the coal used for energy generation, and as its heat unit increases, so does the sulfur volume.
The alternatives and the varying attitudes
The coal regulation is not the only way to reduce air pollution. Car taxes need to be increased in relation to the levels of airborne toxins emitted from the vehicle. The burning of coal for the heating of homes causes 80% of the air pollution in aimags and the capital city. To keep the gers and houses adequately warm, it is necessary to stop heat loss first. Covering a Mongolian ger with two layers of thick cloth and stuffing its base reduces heat loss by half. One of the reasons for the air in the city having been relatively clean last year is that the price of a sack of refined coal was 3,750 tugriks, while this winter, it was reduced by 75% to 940 tugriks. Cheap goods are often consumed excessively.
Electric heating and insulation methods with high efficiency ratios are also being introduced. An example of this is Kindergarten No. 38 at the end of the Bayankhoshuu bus station line, which was built 20 years ago with an area of 1400 square meters and a capacity for 380 children. The installation of electric heaters produced in Mongolia in this kindergarten has not only eliminated the cost of coal, ash, and hiring of a stoker, it also reduced overall operating costs, and drastically reduced the environmental damage since 2016. Many of the 116 kindergartens and 27 schools in Songinokhairkhan district are heated by burning coal in low-pressure boilers. As of late 2020, 17 schools and 25 kindergartens in the capital city were not connected to the central heating system and thus, they use coal for heating. Annual heating costs of each of these schools and kindergartens amount to 120-240 million tugriks.
Although the city administration provides liquid gas for heating to some schools and kindergartens, the Ministry of Education has requested a safety assurance from the Ministry of Environment. It is noteworthy that heating ten kindergartens using electric heating costs 400 million tugriks while the liquid gas heating costs 2 billion tugriks. Private kindergartens have resorted to electric-heating, but public ones have no choice but to abide by the decision of their higher authorities. Similarly, many state-funded organizations use smoke filters that costs 55 million tugriks a piece which amounts to 12 billion tugriks in total. This is a cheap trick.
All in all, unless we hire an independent professional organization to conduct a comprehensive, comparative study on the choice of heating solutions, assess, and then find an ultimate solution, there is no way to tell whether the taxpayer’s money is being used efficiently and whose business interests are being promoted.
2021.02.11
Trans. by Riya.T and Munkh-Erdene.D