Emission factors and global warming potential of various solid biomass fuel-cook stove combinations

Mitigating Curtailment and Carbon Emissions through Load Migration between Data Centers

Background In many countries of the world, households burn firewood or biomass to fulfill their cooking and heating needs. The excessive reliance on biomass fuels by inefficient traditional cookstove produces and emits substantial amount of smoke which brings effects associated with high indoor air pollution, deforestation, climate change and losses productivity. Therefore, this study focused on carbon emission reduction potentials of improved biomass cookstoves used in Gambella refugee camps and compares it with traditional open-fire stove. Methods For this study, Water Boiling Test (WBT) was carried out at laboratory level. The most commonly used improved biomass cookstoves and the three stone traditional cook stove were selected for the assessment and comparison. The emission of greenhouse gasses (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and particulate matters) was used as indicators to compare the emissions of each stove. Results The results indicated that, three-stone open-fire traditional stove, Clay (User Centered Design-UCD), Flexy and Tikikil stoves were found to be the preferred mode of biomass cooking stove used by most refugees. From the experimental test results, the performance model showed a significant reduction in greenhouse gasses and/or pollutant (CO2, CO, and PM2.5) concentrations. The use of one Flexy stove could avoid the emission of 1.21 tons, Clay 1.15 tons, and Tikikil 0.96 tons of CO2e per stove per year. The average amount of CO emission from the three-stone stove was 1105ppm and from ICS was 370.3 ppm. Particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions of Flexy, Clay, Tikikil and Traditional cook stoves were recorded as 329, 339, 337, 614 mg respectively. Conclusion Therefore, it can be conclude that improved biomass cook stoves can produce less smoke and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and health effects. Thus, concerned organizations should disseminate and monitor improved biomass cooking stoves for the refugees so as to protect individuals from negative impact of traditional three-stone cookstoves.

In many countries of the world, households burn firewood or biomass to fulfill their cooking and heating needs. The excessive reliance on biomass fuels by inefficient traditional cookstove produces and emits substantial amount of smoke which brings effects associated with high indoor air pollution, deforestation, climate change and losses productivity. Therefore, this study focused on carbon emission reduction potentials of improved biomass cookstoves used in Gambella refugee camps and compares it with traditional open-fire stove. For this study, Water Boiling Test (WBT) was carried out at laboratory level. The most commonly used improved biomass cookstoves and the three stone traditional cook stove were selected for the assessment and comparison. The emission of greenhouse gasses (carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and particulate matters) was used as indicators to compare the emissions of each stove. The results indicated that, three-stone open-fire traditional stove, Clay (User Centered Design-UCD), Flexy and Tikikil stoves were found to be the preferred mode of biomass cooking stove used by most refugees. From the experimental test results, the performance model showed a significant reduction in greenhouse gasses and/or pollutant (CO<sub>2</sub>, CO, and PM2.5) concentrations. The use of one Flexy stove could avoid the emission of 1.21 tons, Clay 1.15 tons, and Tikikil 0.96 tons of CO<sub>2</sub>e per stove per year. The average amount of CO emission from the three-stone stove was 1105ppm and from ICS was 370.3 ppm. Particulate matter (PM2.5) emissions of Flexy, Clay, Tikikil and Traditional cookstoves were recorded as 329, 339, 337, 614 mg respectively. Therefore, it can be conclude that improved biomass cook stoves can produce less smoke and reduce greenhouse gas emissions and health effects. Thus, concerned organizations should disseminate and monitor improved biomass cooking stoves for the refugees so as to protect individuals from negative impact of traditional three-stone cookstoves.

The greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction potentials of various near- and long-term transportation technologies were estimated. The estimated per-travel-distance GHG emissions results indicate that alternative transportation fuels and advanced vehicle technologies can help to significantly reduce transportation-related GHG emissions. Of the near-term technologies evaluated, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, compression-ignition, direct-injection vehicles, and E85 (85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) flexible-fuel vehicles can reduce fuelcycle GHG emissions by more than 25 percent on a fuel-cycle basis. Electric vehicles powered by electricity generated primarily from nuclear and renewable sources can reduce GHG emissions by 80 percent. Other alternative fuels (such as compressed natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas) offer limited, but positive, GHG emissions reduction benefits. Among the long-term technologies evaluated, conventional sparkignition and compression-ignition engines powered by alternative fuels and gasoline- and diesel-powered advanced vehicles can reduce GHG emissions by 10 to 30 percent. Dedicated ethanol vehicles, electric vehicles, hybrid electric vehicles, and fuel-cell vehicles can reduce GHG emissions by more than 40 percent. Spark-ignition engines and fuel-cell vehicles powered by cellulosic ethanol and solar hydrogen (for fuel-cell vehicles only) can reduce GHG emissions by over 80 percent. In conclusion, both near- and long-term alternative fuels and advanced transportation technologies can play a role in reducing GHG emissions from the transportation sector.

A laboratory based comparative study of Indian biomass cookstove testing protocol and Water Boiling Test

The impact of uncertainties on predicted greenhouse gas emissions of dairy cow production systems

The potential of agricultural and livestock wastes as a source of biogas in Vietnam: Energetic, economic and environmental evaluation

Legislation to cap and trade greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions was approved by a 219-212 vote of the United States House of Representatives on June 26, 2009. Cap and trade policy articulated in the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) act of 2009 regulates GHGs including carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and nitrogen trifluoride. Debate over the ACES act focused heavily on economic issues contrasted against concerns about climate change1. However, discussion largely ignored the potential for cap and trade legislation to contribute to reductions in levels of other harmful air pollutants, such as sulfur dioxide, particulate matter, and ozone precursors that share emission sources with GHGs. Under the bill, domestic GHG emissions are to be capped at 2005 annual levels, and reduced to 17% of those marks by 20502. The bill provides for an initial round of pollution permits to be made available, some free, others at auction. Subsequently, these permits can be bought and sold in the open market by organizations such as utility companies and manufacturing firms. A key provision in the ACES act requires the president to impose tariffs on countries that do not implement similar regulations on GHG emissions. While other potentially viable legislation, such as a tax on carbon emissions, has been proposed3, the current cap and trade legislation is the first bill to pass in either the House or Senate. The greenhouse gases regulated under the ACES act do not generally pose serious direct health risks. For example, nitrous oxide is used in dental procedures, and carbon dioxide is an ingredient in carbonated beverages. Other GHGs, like nitrogen trifluoride and sulfur hexafluoride, are not harmful at their current concentration levels, but can be hazardous to persons working with them if safety precautions are not taken. Instead, substantial human health benefits from cap and trade legislation could potentially come from reductions in ambient levels of harmful pollutants, such as particulate matter and ozone, that share emissions sources with GHGs. For example, 94% of CO2 emissions in the US result from combustion of fossil fuels, with electricity generation and transportation alone comprising nearly 70%. These are also the leading source of sulfur dioxide, fine particles having diameter small than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5), and precursors to ozone such as mono-nitrogen oxides (NOx)4. While the time scale for potential impacts of cap and trade legislation on climate change and related health benefits is likely decades or centuries, ancillary air pollution mitigation could have immediate health benefits. In two nationwide epidemiological studies, daily levels of ambient ozone and PM2.5 have been linked to increased risk of cardiovascular and respiratory mortality5 and to increased risk of emergency hospital admissions, especially for heart failure6, respectively. Estimates of the potential health benefits attributable to reductions in harmful air pollutants resulting from mitigation of GHG emissions, at the city, region and national, have been substantial7. While US cap and trade legislation would likely reduce domestic air pollution levels, two caveats deserve consideration. First, methods for reducing GHG emissions typically reduce air pollution levels, but not always. This problem can be highlighted using airplanes as an example8. Two methods to reduce CO2 emissions from airplanes are to decrease aircraft weight or increase engine combustion temperatures. The former reduces both GHG and air pollution emissions, whereas the later reduces GHG emissions at the cost of increasing precursors to ozone. In the broader context of energy production, it is likely cap and trade legislation would drive a shift away from fossil fuel combustion to sources such as solar technology that produce much less air pollution. However, the exact technology development path is still uncertain. A second problem is the potential for domestic cap and trade legislation to transfer US emissions to newly industrialized nations. Countries facing lower production costs associated with looser regulations on GHG emissions would have an economic advantage over manufacturing industries in the US. However, increased air pollution from new manufacturing could be a key public health issue for developing regions, such as China's Pearl River delta, where air pollution levels are already much higher than standards in the US9. The economic and physical systems that would be affected by cap and trade legislation are extremely complex, and impacts on air pollution will have to be considered in a broad context. For example, while the absence of tariffs would likely push manufacturing, air pollution and related negative health effects to developing regions, those regions might experience health benefits associated with increased per capita income. The discussion is similarly complex in the physical domain. For example, some air pollutants, such as sulfate particulate matter, can contribute to short term climate cooling. Though still somewhat unclear, there is an emerging debate over the possibility that air pollution mitigation could actually exacerbate global warming in the short term10. While it faces potentially significant opposition and alteration in the Senate, the cap and trade bill recently passed in the House has progressed further through Congress than any other similar legislation. There is tremendous potential for legislation regulating GHG emissions, via cap and trade or other strategies, to simultaneously decrease emissions of harmful air pollutants and reduce morbidity and mortality attributable to cardiovascular and respiratory illness. Such improvements in public health have been linked to economic benefits from recovered workforce productivity8, and add important support for progress on cap and trade legislation versus delayed action.

Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from unsustainable land-use practices around the world contribute significantly to anthropogenic climate change. Growing population pressure and low efficiency of agricultural production systems in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) trigger the expansion of agricultural land into natural ecosystems, which leads to deforestation and land degradation, and causes GHG emissions. At the same time, prolonged droughts and increasingly erratic weather patterns due to climate change jeopardise food security in SSA countries such as Kenya.

Enhancing resource use efficiency of alfalfa with appropriate irrigation and fertilization strategy mitigate greenhouse gases emissions in the arid region of Northwest China

This study aimed to evaluate the environmental impact of using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in small fishing vessels by conducting a life cycle assessment (LCA) in Korea. For the first time in the country, LPG engines designed for small fishing ships were utilized in this study. In addition, this research examined the potential benefits of employing Bio LPG, a renewable LPG produced from two distinct raw materials (crude palm oil (CPO) and refined, bleached, and deodorized (RBD) palm oil), instead of conventional LPG. The LCA findings reveal that utilizing LPG fuel in small fishing vessels can reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by more than 30% over conventional gasoline and diesel fuels. During the life cycle of vessels that use LPG fuel instead of gasoline and diesel fuels, there is a reduction of 2.2 and 1.2 million tons of GHG emissions, respectively. Moreover, substituting conventional fossil fuels with Bio LPG can result in over 65% reduction in GHG emissions. For the life cycle of boats that use Bio LPG fuel in place of gasoline and diesel fuels, the reduction of GHG emissions was 4.9 million tons and 2.5 million tons for CPO and 5.2 million tons and 2.7 million tons for RBD, respectively. This study not only underscores the substantial advantages of using Bio LPG over conventional fossil fuels but also presents conventional LPG as a way to reduce GHG emissions and promote sustainable practices in the fishing industry.

Laboratory based assessment of cookstove performance using energy and emission parameters for North Indian cooking cycle

Municipal waste production in Indonesia is rapidly increasing due to population growth and economic development, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This research aims to develop effective waste management scenarios for Pekanbaru City, focusing on reducing GHG emissions through integrated treatment methods. Employing a comprehensive methodology, the study estimates GHG emissions from various waste management practices, including biological, thermal, and mixed methods. The research utilizes a basic model to calculate emissions based on activity data and emission factors, exploring current practices and innovative strategies like Black Soldier Fly (BSF) larvae for organic waste treatment. Findings reveal that the Mix scenario, which combines multiple waste management processes, results in the most significant reduction of GHG emissions, achieving a net emission of 112,985.89 tons of CO?-eq/year, compared to the existing scenario with 637,864.33 tons of CO?-eq/year. The study identifies key emission hotspots, emphasizing the need for improved management of organic waste through composting and recycling. The implications of this research highlight the importance of adopting integrated waste management strategies to mitigate GHG emissions effectively. The findings provide actionable insights for policymakers, promoting sustainable practices aligned with the 3R hierarchy (reduce, reuse, recycle) and supporting targeted interventions that can enhance environmental sustainability in urban settings.

Indoor biofuel use for cooking/heating purposes is potentially a significant source of fine-mode aerosols in the Indian Himalayan region, with important implications for ambient atmospheric processes. Incomplete combustion of biofuels leads to emission of absorbing aerosols such as elemental carbon (EC), brown carbon (BrC) and humic-like substances (HULIS), which can affect climate via direct as well as indirect forcing.  However, profiles of these aerosols in indoor microenvironments are poorly studied, especially from the Indian Himalayan region. Here, we report size-segregated light absorption properties (absorption coefficient; babs_aq) of aqueous brown carbon (BrCaq) for cow dung cake (CDC), firewood (WD), charcoal (CC), kerosene (KS) and liquified petroleum gas (LPG) combustion in indoor settings from two northwest Himalayan states (Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh). We further characterize BrC composition using excitation emission matrix (EEM) fluorescence spectroscopy coupled with parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis. Size-segregated samples (>2.5 µm, 2.5-1 µm, 1-0.5 µm, 0.5-0.25 µm and <0.25 µm) were collected during indoor cooking activities which showed PM levels exceeding Indian ambient PM2.5 standard by 8-460 times, with CDC showing the highest PM concentration in all size ranges. Size distribution profile of the fuels showed trimodal distributions with one peak in the Aitken nuclei mode (0.05 μm for CDC, WD and LPG; 0.06 μm for CC and KS) and the other two in the accumulation mode (0.22 and 2.03 μm for CDC, 0.21 μm and 2.1 μm for WD, 0.24 and 1.91 μm for KS, and 0.17 and 0.83 μm for CC). PM size distribution across kitchen and fuel types was characterized by more than 50% concentration in the Greenfield Gap region (0.1-2 μm)., CDC showed highest babs_365 for all size ranges combined (2245±357 Mm-1) compared to other fuels while LPG showed the lowest (190±46 Mm-1). BrCaq in the lowest size fraction showed greater babs compared to other size ranges in all fuels except KS. High values of babs ratio (>5) for300-400 nm (babs_300_400) to 400-500 nm (babs_400_500) wavelength range suggested the presence of HULIS in CDC and WD samples while other fuels exhibited values below 2.6. The lower size fractions (<0.5 µm) of CDC and WD were characterized by higher babs_300_400/babs_400_500 values (6.9±1.6 for CDC and 7.4±2.8 for WD) than upper size ranges (3.2±0.8 for CDC and 2.3±0.5 for WD), indicating a dominance of HULIS components in finer aerosol. Upon analysis of EEMs coupled with PARAGAC, three major chromophoric categories in BrCaq of CDC and WD samples were observed: two types of HULIS components with varying degree of conjugation and one type of protein-like substances (PRLIS). HULIS was the dominant chromophore type in lower size fractions (<0.5 µm) of CDC and WD samples (70±4% for CDC and 61±6% for WD) while for upper size fractions its contribution was relatively lower (50±10% for CDC and 36±9% for WD). Finally, BrCaq from CDC and WD emissions exhibited direct climate forcing potential equivalent to EC (relative radiative forcing (RRF): 91-98%), confirming that indoor biofuel emissions are indeed significant sources of climate forcing agents in the Indian Himalayan context.

Energy-related activities are a major contributor of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. A growing body of knowledge clearly depicts the links between human activities and climate change. Over the last century the burning of fossil fuels such as coal and oil and other human activities has released carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and other heat-trapping GHG emissions into the atmosphere and thus increased the concentration of atmospheric CO2 emissions. The main human activities that emit CO2 emissions are (1) the combustion of fossil fuels to generate electricity, accounting for about 37% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 31% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2013, (2) the combustion of fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel to transport people and goods, accounting for about 31% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 26% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2013, and (3) industrial processes such as the production and consumption of minerals and chemicals, accounting for about 15% of total U.S. CO2 emissions and 12% of total ...