Polska od lat zmaga się ze złą jakością powietrza, co bezpośrednio przekłada się na zdrowie ludzkie. Badania wskazują, że największy wpływ na przekraczanie poziomów dopuszczalnych i docelowych stężeń zanieczyszczeń, szczególnie pyłów oraz bezno(a)pirenu, ma niska emisja, w szczególności z sektora gospodarstw domowych. Powodem takiego stanu jest spalanie złej jakości paliwa w starych, mało efektywnych i wysokoemisyjnych paleniskach. Mając na uwadze powyższe zagrożenia, idąc śladem Krakowa i Małopolski, kolejne województwa, miasta i gminy wprowadzają lub rozważają wprowadzenie ograniczenia spalania paliw stałych na swoim terenie oraz całkowitą likwidację kotłów na paliwa stałe niespełniające wymogów ekoprojektu lub ewentualnie normy 5 klasy emisji spalin.

Określenie wielkości emitowanych zanieczyszczeń do atmosfery ma kluczowe znaczenie w przypadku podejmowania wysiłków i określania działań zmierzających do poprawy jakości powietrza. W Polsce ruszyły ambitne programy zarówno na poziomie rządowym, jak i regionalnym, które mają na celu wymianę kotłów i pieców w kilku milionach domów. Na przykład szacuje się, że prawie pół miliona kotłów należy wymienić w ramach realizacji uchwały antysmogowej w województwie małopolskim. W artykule zostały przedstawione opracowane współczynniki emisji zanieczyszczeń mających bezpośredni wpływ na lokalną jakość powietrza tj.: współczynniki emisji pyłów, bezno(a)pirenu, tlenków siarki i azotu, tlenku węgla. Zostały wskazane zakresy stosowanych i prezentowanych współczynników emisji dla różnych technologii oraz różnych paliw. Wskazane zostały również standardy emisji obowiązujące dla nowych kotłów oraz ilości zużywanych paliw w gospodarstwach domowych w Polsce.

Przedstawiono możliwe zmiany wielkości emisji w przypadku likwidacji starych kotłów i używania nowoczesnych urządzeń do spalania biomasy oraz węgla w gospodarstwach domowych oraz przeprowadzenia termomodernizacji.

The changes in the domestic solid fuel market (including forecasted increases in the fuel prices) and the growing requirements related to actual environmental standards, result in increased interest in renewable energy sources, such as biomass, wind and solar energy. These sources will allow to achieve reduction in the CO2 emission, and consequently – avoid environmental costs after 2020. Therefore, the development of distributed energy systems, based on the use of biomass boilers, gas boilers and high efficiency combined heat and power units, will enable the fulfillment of current standards in the field of energy efficiency and emission of pollutants to the atmosphere. It should be emphasized that the actions taken to reduce emissions (e.g. anti-smog act) will contribute to reducing coal consumption in the municipal and housing sector (households, agriculture and other customers) in favor of biomass and other renewable energy sources. The article reviews selected biomass technologies:

- fluidized, dust and grate boilers,

- straw-fired boilers,

- cogeneration systems powered by biomass,

- torrefaction and biomass carbonisation.

The mentioned technologies are characterized by a high potential of in the field of dynamic development and practical application in the coming years. Thus, they can improve difficult situation in the distributed energy sector with a capacity up to 50 MW.

Low emission has a significant impact on air quality in Poland. Low sources are found which lead to high concentrations of pollutants in the area inhabited by humans. The effects of low emissions on health and life in the polluted areas (Małopolska, Silesia) are conducive to radical decisions regarding the quality of solid fuels and their combustion facilities. At present, local anti-smuggling laws have been introduced in the two provinces banning the burning of the most emitting fuels such as mules, flotoconcentrates and lignite. Regional EU-funded programs for the use of renewable energy sources (RES) and energy efficiency improvement will transition to the implementation phase of the approved projects as of 2017. This is expected to significantly reduce energy consumption for heating buildings and replacing old boilers and automatic furnaces with low-emission heating devices. In the case of households, proving that the residential building has adequate energy efficiency characteristics is necessary in order to receive co-financing for replacing an old solid fuel boiler with a new low-emission boiler,. The paper will present the current situation on the regulation of the fuel market in the household and small–scale consumer sector and the proposal for changes to the law on monitoring and control of solid fuel quality. Another important issue will be significant changes in heating up to 500 kW, proposed by the Ministry of Development in October 2016. The proposed regulation precedes the implementation of the Ecodesign Directive, which will come into effect as of 2022 for room heaters and heating furnaces up to 500 kW for solid fuels. All these actions will help reduce low emissions and improve energy efficiency.

It is shown that the predicted energy crisis in Kazakhstan makes the issue of small-scale energy and complementary civil society institutions more than relevant. This crisis, caused by the deterioration of heating networks built during the former USSR, can be more than large-scale, as evidenced by the events in the city of Ekibastuz, where a significant proportion of the population was left without heating in the winter of 2022/2023. It is proven that the development of small-scale power generation should be complex, i.e. in the foreseeable future, one should focus attention on a combination of renewable and traditional energy sources, which implies a gradual increase in the share of renewable energy. The expediency of using the concept of “energy freedom”, at least in relation to the Republic of Kazakhstan, is substantiated. It is shown that the goal of the development of small green energy should be precisely the achievement of energy freedom for households, oriented towards the institutions of civil society. This implies, inter alia, the development of a wide range of non-trivial technical solutions that provide, for example, direct heat generation without an intermediate stage of conversion into electrical current. A specific example is considered, demonstrating the adequacy of the proposed approach. It is also shown that the primary measures to ensure the energy freedom of households can be implemented even when using equipment available on the market. Specific calculations are presented which prove that the transition to decentralized heat supply is economically feasible using available equipment.