Household air pollution mitigation with integrated biomass/cookstove strategies in Western Kenya

Abstract

Traditional cooking is today's largest global environmental health risk. Over 640 million people in Africa are expected to rely on biomass for cooking by 2040. In Kenya, cooking inefficiently with wood and charcoal persists as a cause of deforestation and household air pollution. This research analyses the effects of four biomass cookstove strategies on reducing air pollutant emissions in Kisumu County between 2015 and 2035 using the Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning system. The Business as Usual scenario (BAU) was developed considering the historical trends in household energy use. Energy transition scenarios to Improved Cookstoves (ICS), Pellet Gasifier Stoves (PGS) and Biogas Stoves (BGS) were applied to examine the impact of these systems on energy savings and air pollution mitigation. An integrated scenario (INT) was evaluated as a mix of the ICS, PGS and BGS. The highest energy savings, in relation to the BAU, are achieved in the BGS (30.9%), followed by the INT (23.5%), PGS (19.4%) and ICS (9.2%). The BGS offers the highest reduction in the GHG (37.6%), CH4 (94.3%), NMVOCs (85.0%), CO (97.4%), PM2.5 (64.7%) and BC (48.4%) emissions, and the PGS the highest reduction in the N2O (83.0%) and NOx (90.7%) emissions, in relation to the BAU.