A breath of fresh air: solving Ulaanbaatar’s pollution issues — in photos
Article Date: 2025-04-07
Article URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-00712-8
Article Image: https://www.nature.com/articles/assets/Fyx9omRcDO/sequence-01-frame-0ms-1920×1080.jpg
Summary
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital, suffers extreme winter air pollution driven largely by millions burning coal and other fuels in traditional gers (yurts). The city sits in a cold valley where pollution becomes trapped; PM2.5 levels have hit as high as 687 µg/m³ — roughly 27 times the WHO guideline. The article follows ex-physicist Unurbat Erdenemunkh and his start-up URECA, which runs a Coal-to-Solar (C2S) pilot replacing polluting stoves in gers with solar panels, batteries, electric heaters and improved insulation.
The C2S pilot (initially 80 families, expanding to 180) has stopped participants burning coal for three years, using hybrid systems backed by the grid and heat storage. URECA’s insulation upgrades (extra felt layers, door and skirt plugs) show thermal gains of up to ~20 °C in parts of the ger. The project aims to scale to thousands of families, sell excess energy and carbon credits, and ultimately hand operations to households to create income through grid sales.
Key Points
- Ulaanbaatar’s geography and extreme cold make winter air pollution a life-threatening problem for many residents.
- PM2.5 concentrations have reached catastrophic levels (reported up to 687 µg/m³), greatly exceeding WHO limits.
- About one million people live in gers; household coal burning contributes 70–80% of the city’s smog according to URECA.
- URECA’s Coal-to-Solar (C2S) pilot replaces coal stoves with solar panels, batteries, electric heaters and smart meters.
- Insulation improvements (extra felt layers, skirt and door plugs) can raise internal ger surface temperatures by up to ~20 °C.
- C2S hybrid systems provide up to six hours of off-grid heating via heat and battery storage, reducing reliance on unstable grid supply.
- The pilot claims none of its 80 participant families have burned coal in three years; plans are to scale to 20,000 families and generate carbon credits.
- Household impacts include cleaner homes, fewer health incidents, time saved from fuel collection, and new income opportunities from electricity sales.
Why should I read this?
Want the quick, human-side briefing on a big pollution problem and a practical fix? This piece shows how clever tech, a bit of trust and good insulation can cut deadly smog, save cash and even create income for low-income families. It’s full of tangible results and real people — no jargon, just what’s changing and why it matters.
Author style
Punchy and visual — the author uses photography and first-hand reporting to make the public-health and climate implications immediate. If you care about practical climate solutions, urban health or scalable community projects, the detail here is worth your time.
Context and relevance
This story sits at the intersection of climate displacement, rapid urbanisation and public-health crises. It highlights how grassroots, locally led renewable solutions can reduce emissions and premature deaths, while also offering a model for other cold-climate, low-income urban areas. The project’s focus on insulation, storage and community buy-in aligns with wider trends in decentralised energy, carbon-credit financing and climate adaptation.