Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki presented the government program „Smog stop” yesterday. The government wants to fight against smog, among others through thermal modernization of buildings.
– There was a lack of fresh air. For years of neglect, clean air has been a scarce commodity in many situations. For sure, no one wants to remember the times of smog, impure air, children walking in masks, I do not want this. That is why we are moving with the program of thermal modernization of buildings. It aims to reduce pollution and, at the same time, increase the possibilities for homeowners to heat homes, especially where the air is not clean – said Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during yesterday’s press conference.
He pointed out that thanks to thermo-modernization of buildings, coal-fired households use it half as much. – As I said in the expose, this is one of priorities of my government, that’s why we are introducing the program of thermal modernization of buildings, which aims to ensure that the air in Poland is clean. We will not do it in a year, but one should start this long journey – he emphasized.
Poland will carry out the RES objective
When asked about the development of renewable energy in Poland, Prime Minister Morawiecki said that our country is trying to transform its energy and deviate from coal. In his opinion, Poland will meet the RES target by 2020.
– Very rich countries that after the Second World War could build a normal economic system and already invested in RES 10-15 years ago.Germany for instance subsidized RES with 24-25 billion euros annually from the budget. Poland, which after the Second World War was in a completely different economic situation, was alone, and built its energy based on coal. Today, we are trying to transform the energy sector slowly, in an economical, energy-efficient way. In connection with the European Union’s climate policy, RES are one of the directions that we are developing very intensively. We intend to fulfill the goal that has been agreed with the EU, i.e. 15 percent of our energy produced from RES by 2020 to be made. We are on a very good road to perform it – said the head of the Polish government.
Smog is the result of many years of neglect
As the Undersecretary of State in the Ministry of Enterprise and Technology Piotr Woźny noted that the quality of air in Poland is the result of many years of neglect. – Already in 2000, the Supreme Audit Office called on the government to set quality standards for fuels and boilers. We have today’s judgment of the Tribunal, in which it stated that Poland did not establish an effective mechanism to defend citizens against poor air quality. This shows that these accumulated pollutants are touching us with all the power – he said.
Will smog disappear by 2027?
According to Deputy Minister Woźny, the main goal of the „Smog stop” program is primarily to improve air quality. – To do it, first of all, we should support the least affluent Poles. A building without thermo-modernization consumes 5 tons of coal a year. The one with half-thermovision made by half. We want to improve the quality of life of less affluent Poles. We also want to improve Poland’s energy efficiency. We have a lot to do in this area – he said.
– We start with a pilot in 22 municipalities. This is approx. 15-16 thousand. houses where less affluent Poles live. The cost is about PLN 750 million. We need to learn how much it costs thermo-modernization of a small house where the less affluent Poles live. After this piloting, we will be able to estimate costs in the country – he added.
Soon, the Act on quality standards for solid fuels
He reminded that recently regulations have been adopted defining quality standards for solid fuel boilers. He stated that work on them is at the absolute finale and will soon be sent to the meeting of the Council of Ministers. – It is possible that the project will go to a government meeting within the next week. We have reached an agreement with the Ministry of Energy. The document also contains standards for sulfur. The document will be processed in the Sejm along with the shielding program for the less prosperous Poles – said Deputy Minister Woźny.
He also stressed that the program is planned in the perspective of the third term of the Government of Law and Justice. Poland wants to use EU funds from the perspective 2021-2027 and establish with the European Commission the creation of a special operational program for Poland – Clean Air, so that at the end of 2027 all Poles could be given the opportunity to breathe full breast and clean air – he concluded.