禁用生煤：日治臺灣的燃煤空污與煤煙防止運動

Bituminous Coal Prohibition: Air Pollution from Coal Burning and Coal Smoke Prevention Campaign in Japanese Colonial Taiwan

煤炭之開發應用為推動工業文明與工業化的原動力，然而燃燒煤炭大量排放有害人體和環境之黑色「煤煙」，造就十八世紀末迄二十世紀中葉世界性的「煙霧時代」。日治臺灣適逢其時，北臺大量開採煤炭成為新興廉價能源，應用於全臺工業、交通運輸和北臺家庭之炊爨，亦形成相應之燃煤空污。
時人對煤煙之認識與回應最初只是厭惡煤煙帶來的髒污與不便，並以煙囪為主要管制對象。1910年代中期以降，煤煙有害健康逐漸被強調，管制轉向禁用「生煤」（戰前稱「生石炭」）——一種廉價、未經碳化而多雜質之原始煤炭，臺人集居且大量使用這類煤炭的大稻埕、萬華，被視為煤煙源頭，大稻埕臺灣仕紳亦於1923年、1927年、1932年三次啟動「煤煙防止運動」。運動過程曾採科學分析、禁用生煤、改用熟煤、改良爐灶等作為，於健康、經濟、美觀訴求下，1935年起行動外溢臺北、基隆、桃園各地，然最終受戰爭影響暫止。檢討日治臺灣的燃煤空污，其反映了全球煤煙與防煙的地方現象，而日治種種防煙行動看似成功，實則存在「轉移」污染，及「無色污染」屏障時人認識煤煙的問題。雖然不能說是總體性地革除煤煙，然當時的防煙行動，至少改善了「眼前可見」的空氣污染。

The excavation and utilization of coal is the driving force behind industrial civilization and industrialization. However, burning coal emits a large amount of black“coal smoke”that is harmful to the human body and the environment. The end of the 18th century to the mid-20th century was the worldwide“smog era”. At that time, Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule and the large-scale mining of coal in Northern Taiwan provided a new cheap energy source for household cooking in the north as well as industries and transportation throughout the island, causing widespread air pollution from coal burning.
At the beginning, people hated only the dirt and inconvenience caused by the soot and smoke, and thus implemented control primarily on chimneys. Then from the mid-1910s, there had been increasing emphasis on the health hazards of coal smoke, which eventually led to a ban on“bituminous coal”(called“namasekitan”before WWII)—a kind of cheap non-carbonized coal containing many impurities. Dadaocheng and Wanhua, where many Taiwanese lived and where large quantities of coal were used, were regarded as the source of coal smoke. In 1923, 1927, and 1932, the Taiwanese gentry in Dadaocheng launched the“Coal Smoke Prevention Campaign”, respectively. They adopted scientific analysis, prohibited bituminous coal using anthracite or mature coal instead, and improved kitchens and stoves. Demanding for health, economic and aesthetic enhancement, the campaign spread to Taipei, Keelung, and Taoyuan from 1935 onwards, until the war brought it to a halt. The air pollution caused by coal burning in Japanese colonial Taiwan was a local reflection of the global coal smoke problem and smoke prevention efforts. While the anti-smoke efforts launched during the Japanese colonial era seemed successful, they were merely relocating the pollution source from the city to the country and turning black smoke into white, which obscured the real issues of coal smoke. Despite far from a complete eradication of coal smoke, the smoke prevention efforts did at least improve the“visible”air pollution.