Biomass-derived liquid cooking fuels for household use in rural China: potential for reducing health costs and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract

Given the prevalence of solid cooking fuels and their highly polluting nature, a large number of people worldwide -- and more than half of China’s total population -- receive enormous doses of particulate matter (PM) from cooking with solid fuels in indoor environments. In China, hundreds of millions are routinely exposed to indoor pollutant concentrations that exceed any international or domestic standard by an order of magnitude. Accordingly, significant health benefits could be realized if solid fuels were replaced by cleaner-burni ng fuels in rural China. Moreover, emissions of health-damagi ng air pollutants (HDPs) from rural indoor use of solid fuels are concomitant with a significant share of China’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Thus, parallel assessments of the magnitude of health benefits and GHG emission mitigation associated with large-scale substitution of solid cooking fuels are warranted. This paper explores the plausible scope, potential health benefits, and possible GHG emission reduction of replacing a major portion of China’s rural household solid fuel combustion with liquid cooking fuels derived from agricultural residues. Health endpoints are not limited to mortality, but include several morbidity outcomes, and are assessed using the World Health Organization’s yardstick of disability adjusted life years (DALYs). A range of values is presented to reflect uncertainty associated with epidemiologic dose-response functions. If biomass-deriv ed liquid fuels were employed on a large scale, health benefits could include a dramatic reduction in rural mortality attributable to air pollution, with even greater health benefits associated with non-fatal endpoints.