LONDON: There are far more charged particles beside busy roads than under high-voltage power lines, a world-first study has found.
The study found that within 10 metres of a freeway, charged particles were up to 15 times more concentrated than beneath high-voltage power lines.
“Although the effects of ions and charged particles generated by high-voltage power lines on human health is still open to conjecture, there has been a lot of attention on increased exposure due to expanding power networks in urban residential areas,” said Rohan Jayaratne from Queensland University of Technology.
“However what people do not realise is that a large number of charged particles in urban environments come from motor vehicle emissions,” said Jayaratne.
“We found that the concentration of charged particles found near the Gateway and South East Freeway near Brisbane was far greater than those under corona ion-emitting overhead power lines. The difference was more than twice even up to a distance of 40 metres.
