Space heating approaches in Chinese schools: Results from the first Chinese Environmental Exposure-Related Human Activity Patterns Survey-Children (CEERHAPS-C)

Abstract

Space heating is a key source of residential air pollution that causes adverse effects on individuals' health, especially children. However, school heating approaches and their impacts have been rarely evaluated. In the survey, 41,439 children aged 6–17 from 316 schools was conducted to assess the school heating approaches in China. And a comparison of school heating and home heating was made. In cold seasons, most school classrooms used district central (69.7%) and electric (23.1%) heating systems; however, 5.8% used coal-fired stoves. Similarly, in dormitories, these numbers were as high as 72.2%, 20.1%, and 6.1%, respectively. The use of solid fuels for heating mainly occurred in northern rural areas, which tended to have lower per capita incomes than the other areas studied. By weighting the data, the use of polluting coal stoves for indoor heating in schools could affect the health of over 3 million children nationwide. In regions with district central heating available in schools, 38.1% of the population were heated using solid fuel at home, indicating increased exposure when children returned home. By providing information on energy usage types in schools, this study informs the need to further evaluate indoor air pollution and its impacts on children's health.