Cookstove Technologies Research Articles

Impact of intervention of biomass cookstove technologies and kitchen characteristics on indoor air quality and human exposure in rural settings of India

This study investigates the impact of increased levels of indoor air pollution (IAP) caused due to biomass burning in the rural households of Northern India. A comparative assessment of the impact of traditional cookstoves (TCS) and improved cookstoves (ICS) coupled with the characteristics of kitchen was conducted to estimate the PM (PM10, PM2.5, PM1), CO/CO2 concentrations in the micro-environments of kitchen and living area of the households. The study incorporated both extensive and intensive real-time indoor air quality (IAQ) monitoring during the two cooking sessions of the day. The pollutant concentrations were reported in terms of 24-h as well as 8-h (cooking hours including morning and evening meal) averages. Influence of the three types of kitchen characteristics, i.e., enclosed, semi-enclosed and open was also comprehensively analyzed to measure its impact on the IAQ. In addition to this, the IAQ was further used to evaluate the particle size distribution (PSD), respiratory tract deposition and exposure index to assess its impact on health status of the exposed group including women involved in cooking practices. The results of the study highlighted that deployment of ICS would help in improving the IAQ of the kitchen area by resulting in reducing the concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, PM1 and CO by 21–62%, 20–80%, 24–87% and 19–93%, respectively. It was also highlighted that the kitchen characteristics significantly influence the accumulation of air pollutants, demonstrated by the results that the IAQ being worst in the case of enclosed kitchen, resulted in the highest exposure index values. Multivariate regression models to predict PM1 concentration were also developed for three kitchen categories for both TCS and ICS. Thus, the current study concludes that usage of ICS coupled with efficient designing of the kitchen can improve the overall IAQ of the household along with immense health benefits. Overall, the study emphasized the need of more comprehensive studies to fully assess the association of household air pollution (HAP) and health of individual in the rural settings by considering the toxicity of PM.

Adoption of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Stoves in Guatemala: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Household air pollution is the sixth leading risk factor for premature mortality in Guatemala. Households in Guatemala are gradually adopting liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) stoves, but a strong tradition of woodstove use persists. We conducted a mixed-methods study of LPG stove use in peri-urban Guatemala. We used knowledge, attitudes and practices surveys with 187 LPG stove owners who also used woodstoves to identify perceptions of stove and cooking practices. Barriers to sustained use of LPG stoves were evaluated through focus groups, participant observations with stove users, and key informant interviews with community leaders. Seven themes emerged that explain household decisions to use LPG stoves: (1) The "new technology" should be framed in terms of what the "old technology" lacks, (2) income is not a predictor of gas stove acquisition but may predict sustained use, (3) men are key decision-makers but messages about LPG do not target them, (4) when stoves are viewed as "prize possessions" they may not be used, (5) collective fear about gas stoves is not based on personal experience, but on "stories we hear," (6) sustained LPG use is hampered by two major factors, seasonally available wood and LPG retailers who are perceived as dishonest, and (7) wood fuel collection is a time to enjoy the company of friends and family and is not "drudgery." National policies should promote the use of clean cookstove technologies in peri-urban and rapidly urbanizing areas in Guatemala where LPG stoves are in use, but used intermittently, instead of the current plan to install 100,000 "improved" woodstoves by 2032. This could be done by improving dependable cylinder distribution services, targeting gas safety and promoting positive health messages that appeal to men, as well as women.

Enhancing LPG adoption in Ghana\xa0(ELAG): a factorial cluster-randomized controlled trial to Enhance LPG Adoption & Sustained use

BackgroundThree billion individuals worldwide rely on biomass fuel [dung, wood, crops] for cooking and heating. Further, health conditions resulting from household air pollution (HAP) are responsible for approximately 3.9 million premature deaths each year. Though transition away from traditional biomass stoves is projected curb the health effects of HAP by mitigating exposure, the benefits of newer clean cookstove technologies can only be fully realized if use of these new stoves is exclusive and sustained. However, the conditions under which individuals adopt and sustain use of clean cookstoves is not well understood.MethodsThe Enhancing LPG Adoption in Ghana (ELAG) study is a cluster-randomized controlled trial employing a factorial intervention design. The first component is a behavior change intervention based on the Risks, Attitudes, Norms, Abilities, and Self-regulation (RANAS) model. This intervention seeks to align these five behavioral factors with clean cookstove adoption and sustained use. A second intervention is access-related and will improve LPG availability by offering a direct-delivery refueling service. These two interventions will be integrated via a factorial design whereby 27 communities are assigned to one of the following: the control arm, the educational intervention, the delivery, or a combined intervention. Intervention allocation is determined by a covariate-constrained randomization approach. After intervention, approximately 900 households’ individual fuel use is tracked for 12 months via iButton stove use monitors. Analysis will include hierarchical linear models used to compare intervention households’ fuel use to control households.DiscussionLiterature to-date demonstrates that recipients of improved cookstoves rarely completely adopt the new technology. Instead, they often practice partial adoption (fuel stacking). Consequently, interventions are needed to influence adoption patterns and simultaneously to understand drivers of fuel adoption. Ensuring uptake, adoption, and sustained use of improved cookstove technologies can then lead to HAP-reductions and consequent improvements in public health.Trial registrationNCT03352830 (November 24, 2017).

Household Cookstoves: A Comprehensive Assessment of Health-Relevant Emissions

Background/Aim: Air pollution from biomass and liquid-fuel cookstoves is a leading cause of disease globally. There is a limited understanding, however, of the toxic pollutants emitted by cookstove technologies beyond particulate matter (PM2.5) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions. The aim of this work was to develop a comprehensive inventory of health-relevant emissions, which will aid in the interpretation of the health impacts from cookstove smoke. Methods: Over 100 gas- and particle-phase emissions from 30 stove-fuel combinations representing both traditional and cleanest-available technologies were measured in the laboratory. The pollutants that were characterized included: CO, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), PM2.5, volatile organic compounds (including BTEX), carbonyls, ultrafine particles, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Descriptive and statistical analyses were conducted to compare pollutant emissions across stoves and fuels. Results: PM2.5 emissions from traditional wood stoves were consistently the highest (16.5-116.6 mg/MJ), while liquid-fuel stoves were the lowest (kerosene: 0.99-25.3 mg/MJ; LPG: 2.41-5.40 mg/MJ). Higher than expected PM2.5 emissions were also seen from charcoal stoves (12.9-84.4 mg/MJ); we suspect this was due to refueling events. Emissions of known carcinogens varied greatly between stoves. The wick-kerosene stove, which reduced PM2.5 emissions by 80% compared to a three-stone-fire, had the highest average emissions of benzene (107.5 mg/MJ), formaldehyde (34.6 mg/MJ) and acetaldehyde (12.6 mg/MJ), as well as a 380% increase in total BTEX emissions. The gasifier stove had a 65% reduction in PM2.5 and reduced total BTEX emissions by >90%. Conclusions: In the largest cookstove emissions characterization study reported to date, we observed that cookstoves touted as ‘cleaner’ because of their lower PM2.5 emissions may be emitting higher concentrations of other harmful compounds than traditional stoves. We anticipate that the results of this study will inform future health studies, since cookstoves may not be comprehensively evaluated before they are disseminated to users.

Monitoring Deforestation in South Western Ethiopia Using Geospatial Technologies

Maize Deforestation is one among the major environmental problems of our planet earth contributing to land degradation and climate change. Ethiopia had been a home of varied flora and fauna species. However, since recent time most endemic animals and indigenous tree species have dwindled although efforts are there to regain the forest resource through mass mobilization. The study used Landsat image along with institute field survey to monitor the spatio-temporal dynamics of deforestation in the south western parts of Ethiopia. A Supervised maximum likelihood classification algorithm was used along with visual interpretation of the satellite image. According to the result obtained, agricultural land, shrub and woodland and grazing lands were increased by 3715, 511 and 229 hectares respectively at the expense of forest in between 1987 and 2015. In contrast, forest land was reduced by 4455 hectares between the same years and the rate of deforestation is found to be 0.75, 1.48 and 1.119% for the three forest monitoring periods (1987-2001, 2001-2015 and 1987-2015) respectively. The major drivers behind these changes are found to be farmland expansion, biomass fuel, grazing land e and land fragmentation. Population growth and lack of awareness about the long-term consequences of deforestations are also underlying causes. The logistic regression model proposed that deforestation is a function of slope, elevation, and distance to roads, forest edge and aspects. The coefficients for the explanatory variables indicated that the probability of deforestation is negatively related to slope, elevation, and distance from roads, forest edge and aspects. The overall results showed that providing alternative economical access, alternative cook stove technology, creating awareness about the long term impacts of deforestation to rural people; require the attention of government institutions and NGOs.

Technological innovation and dispersion: Environmental benefits and the adoption of improved biomass cookstoves in Tigrai, northern Ethiopia

This paper empirically analyzes adoption and fuel savings efficiency of improved biomass cookstove technology using survey data from a cross-section of 200 farm households from the highlands of Tigrai, northern Ethiopia. Results indicate that these farm households are willing to adopt improved biomass cookstove innovations if this leads to economic savings. Moreover, results suggest significant positive environmental externalities. On a per household basis, we found that adopters collect about 70kg less wood and about 20kg less dung each month. The adoption of improved biomass cookstoves reduces harvest pressure on local forest stands: assuming an average of 120metric tons of biomass per ha, we find the potential reduction in deforestation amounts to some 1400ha per year – an important saving. Further, the reduced use of dung as a fuel has a positive impact on soil productivity in agriculture.

English

Cooking with wood and wood charcoal is done by over 90% of Africa’s population; it has two major challenges: deforestation and indoor air pollution from cooking smoke, the latter being the top risk factor for disease in Tanzania. Microgasification stoves (top lit up draft [TLUD]) that burn pellets produced from agricultural waste have potential to address both of these issues. We examined the relative efficiency and cost of the major urban cooking fuels - charcoal and liquefied natural gas (LNG) – and compared them to cooking with waste biomass-based pellet fuels; we also compared the performance of three models of natural draft (ND) TLUD stove (Troika, Jiko Bomba, St. John’s) and one forced air (fan) stove (Philips). The Philips and averaged ND stoves used 83 and 133% more pellets by weight respectively to cook beans than charcoal, costing 47 and 93% more at 2013 charcoal and pellet prices. Cooking with LNG costs 387 to 647% more than cooking with charcoal, depending on gas flow rate. The high cost of LNG and LNG stoves will be barriers to the great majority of Tanzanians to move to this improved cookstove technologies (ICTs). Biochar production averaged 59 and 29% of total fuel in the ND and Philips, respectively. Interviews of 30 ND TLUD stove users showed that 60% abandoned use within one month, 80% stating that they produce too much smoke and 40% stating that controlling the air vent is too much trouble. Seventy five percent said that the TLUD cooks significantly faster than charcoal. Due to the continued 33-99% annual increase in charcoal prices in Tanzania, work on introducing TLUD stoves is justified.   Key words: Microgasification stoves, TLUD, improved cooking technologies, deforestation, pellet fuels.

Research on Emissions, Air quality, Climate, and Cooking Technologies in Northern Ghana (REACCTING): study rationale and protocol.

BackgroundCooking over open fires using solid fuels is both common practice throughout much of the world and widely recognized to contribute to human health, environmental, and social problems. The public health burden of household air pollution includes an estimated four million premature deaths each year. To be effective and generate useful insight into potential solutions, cookstove intervention studies must select cooking technologies that are appropriate for local socioeconomic conditions and cooking culture, and include interdisciplinary measurement strategies along a continuum of outcomes.Methods/DesignREACCTING (Research on Emissions, Air quality, Climate, and Cooking Technologies in Northern Ghana) is an ongoing interdisciplinary randomized cookstove intervention study in the Kassena-Nankana District of Northern Ghana. The study tests two types of biomass burning stoves that have the potential to meet local cooking needs and represent different “rungs” in the cookstove technology ladder: a locally-made low-tech rocket stove and the imported, highly efficient Philips gasifier stove. Intervention households were randomized into four different groups, three of which received different combinations of two improved stoves, while the fourth group serves as a control for the duration of the study. Diverse measurements assess different points along the causal chain linking the intervention to final outcomes of interest. We assess stove use and cooking behavior, cooking emissions, household air pollution and personal exposure, health burden, and local to regional air quality. Integrated analysis and modeling will tackle a range of interdisciplinary science questions, including examining ambient exposures among the regional population, assessing how those exposures might change with different technologies and behaviors, and estimating the comparative impact of local behavior and technological changes versus regional climate variability and change on local air quality and health outcomes.DiscussionREACCTING is well-poised to generate useful data on the impact of a cookstove intervention on a wide range of outcomes. By comparing different technologies side by side and employing an interdisciplinary approach to study this issue from multiple perspectives, this study may help to inform future efforts to improve health and quality of life for populations currently relying on open fires for their cooking needs.

Can currently available advanced combustion biomass cook-stoves provide health relevant exposure reductions? Results from initial assessment of select commercial models in India.

Household air pollution from use of solid fuels is a major contributor to the national burden of disease in India. Currently available models of advanced combustion biomass cook-stoves (ACS) report significantly higher efficiencies and lower emissions in the laboratory when compared to traditional cook-stoves, but relatively little is known about household level exposure reductions, achieved under routine conditions of use. We report results from initial field assessments of six commercial ACS models from the states of Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh in India. We monitored 72 households (divided into six arms to each receive an ACS model) for 24-h kitchen area concentrations of PM2.5 and CO before and (1-6 months) after installation of the new stove together with detailed information on fixed and time-varying household characteristics. Detailed surveys collected information on user perceptions regarding acceptability for routine use. While the median percent reductions in 24-h PM2.5 and CO concentrations ranged from 2 to 71% and 10-66%, respectively, concentrations consistently exceeded WHO air quality guideline values across all models raising questions regarding the health relevance of such reductions. Most models were perceived to be sub-optimally designed for routine use often resulting in inappropriate and inadequate levels of use. Household concentration reductions also run the risk of being compromised by high ambient backgrounds from community level solid-fuel use and contributions from surrounding fossil fuel sources. Results indicate that achieving health relevant exposure reductions in solid-fuel using households will require integration of emissions reductions with ease of use and adoption at community scale, in cook-stove technologies. Imminent efforts are also needed to accelerate the progress towards cleaner fuels.

Why Do Households Forego High Returns from Technology Adoption

Around 3 billion people in developing countries rely on woodfuels for their daily cooking needs with profound negative implications for their workload, health, and budget as well as the environment. Improved cookstove (ICS) technologies in many cases appear to be an obvious solution. Despite continuous efforts of the international community to disseminate ICS, take up rates in most developing countries are strikingly low. In this paper, we examine the reasons for (non-)adoption of a very simple ICS in urban Burkina Faso. As a first result, we find that ICS users save between 20 and 30 percent of fuels compared to traditional stoves making the investment a very profitable one. Nonetheless, adoption rates are low at a mere 10 percent. It turns out that the major deterrent of adoption are the upfront investment costs – which are much more important than access to information, taste preferences, or the woman’s role in the household. These findings suggest that more direct promotion strategies such as subsidies would help the household to overcome its liquidity constraints and hence improve adoption rates.

The impact of the household decision environment on fuel choice behavior

Consumer preferences for fuels and alternative cookstove technologies in Kenya are examined, focusing on household internal and external determinants driving choice behavior in a choice experiment. The potential for a transition towards cleaner and more efficient fuels and technologies is assessed by zooming in on three fuel-stove combinations. We find substantial demand and positive willingness to pay for the fuel-stove combinations in three locations representing different decision environments. Demand is significantly higher in the peri-urban and the resource abundant rural location than in the resource scarce rural location. The presence of better developed consumer markets for fuels in these locations functions as an important driver for cookstove adoption. Although charcoal and ethanol stoves are preferred over improved firewood stoves, continued firewood usage is expected. Energy switching behavior cannot be substantiated. Instead, energy stacking is more likely, where charcoal and ethanol add to and extend a household’s energy portfolio.

A review of improved Cookstove technologies and programs

Abstract Many Cookstove programs have been implemented in many countries around the world. The objectives of these programs have been to reduce fuel use and hence reduce deforestation, and improve the health conditions of users by reducing environmental emissions. Other objectives include improving the social life of people in developing countries and reducing global climate change. The success of improved Cookstove programs has been reported as mixed. While some of the programs have achieved their target objectives, many of them have failed. This paper reviews the literature of improved Cookstove programs around the world. It starts with a review of some selected Cookstove technologies, classified by the types of fuel they burn and whether they are fixed or portable. This is followed by a review of different Cookstove programs, with the objective of finding the factors that determine their success, the form they should take, and the role played by the stakeholders. It is found that the success of the programs depends on the factors such as: compatibility of technical parameters of stoves with social expectations, consistency with local needs and culture, attitude of the users who are often afraid adopting new technology, and the stove cost. Also programs that use a “bottom-up” strategy, where users and local artisans play participatory roles in establishing a self-sustaining industry ensure success of the program.

Addressing the Burden of Disease Attributable to Air Pollution in India: The Need to Integrate across Household and Ambient Air Pollution Exposures

Addressing the Burden of Disease Attributable to Air Pollution in India: The Need to Integrate across Household and Ambient Air Pollution Exposures

Low demand for nontraditional cookstove technologies

Biomass combustion with traditional cookstoves causes substantial environmental and health harm. Nontraditional cookstove technologies can be efficacious in reducing this adverse impact, but they are adopted and used at puzzlingly low rates. This study analyzes the determinants of low demand for nontraditional cookstoves in rural Bangladesh by using both stated preference (from a nationally representative survey of rural women) and revealed preference (assessed by conducting a cluster-randomized trial of cookstove prices) approaches. We find consistent evidence across both analyses suggesting that the women in rural Bangladesh do not perceive indoor air pollution as a significant health hazard, prioritize other basic developmental needs over nontraditional cookstoves, and overwhelmingly rely on a free traditional cookstove technology and are therefore not willing to pay much for a new nontraditional cookstove. Efforts to improve health and abate environmental harm by promoting nontraditional cookstoves may be more successful by designing and disseminating nontraditional cookstoves with features valued more highly by users, such as reduction of operating costs, even when those features are not directly related to the cookstoves' health and environmental impacts.

Win-win scenarios at the climate–development interface: Challenges and opportunities for stove replacement programs through carbon finance

Achieving win-win outcomes in environment–development programs is a laudable goal, but frequently difficult to realize. In this paper we review the possibilities for win-win climate and development outcomes in programs that distribute improved cookstoves with the use of carbon finance. We show that improved cookstove technologies form an important, if asymmetrical, environment–development interface, and illustrate the mutually supported local (development) and global (climate change) benefits of continued improved stoves use—where success in one program area is directly tied to benefits in the other. We also describe how program results are highly contextual and that, in practice, there are a number of challenges to achieving effective ‘win-win’ outcomes—including cultural, financial, governance and technological barriers. While carbon finance provides an opportunity to fund scaleable and enforceable stove programs, it may also introduce mutually supported impediments—where progress towards one set of program objectives, directly compromises progress towards other objectives. Drawing on development debates for improved cookstove use, scientific reports on stove-based greenhouse gas reductions, and preexisting case studies of carbon and non-carbon financed cookstoves in Peru, Uganda and Cambodia, we conclude that the challenge for future carbon financed improved cookstove projects will be to leverage inherent symbioses between climate and development arenas in order to overcome mutually supported impediments. Achieving substantive win-win conditions will require further scholarly and practical engagement to tackle the many outstanding challenges and uncertainties reviewed in this essay.

Analysis of Cookstove Change-Out Projects Seeking Carbon Credits

The Environmental Sustainability Clinic at the University of Minnesota Law School produced this report in May 2011. Cookstove change-out projects in developing nations seek to replace open fire burning with more efficient cookstove technology. This report analyzes the characteristics of cookstove projects that are seeking to obtain carbon credits as a result of emissions reductions achieved through the stove replacement. The report identified 43 cookstove projects that have applied for or obtained carbon credits. Some of the key findings of the report are as follows: (1) most projects seek credits on the voluntary exchange market rather through the market created incident to the Kyoto protocol; (2) projects almost uniformly use replacement stove technology that more efficiently burns biomass rather than stoves that would require the user to a switch to other forms of fuel; (3) the timing for accomplishing estimated emissions reductions is strongly correlated to the scale of the project; and (4) stove price, costs and subsidies vary widely among projects.

Efficient cookstove technology for improving the kitchen environment and livelihood for women in rural India

SYNOPSIS The improved cookstoves programme was intended to reduce indoor pollution and the resultant health problems caused through the use of inefficient traditional chulhas (Indian cookstoves). This paper focuses on the mechanism adopted for the installation of ICs (improved cookstoves). The process was carried out with the support of local women's UGs (user groups). Eighteen UGs and two SHGs (self-help groups) were formed, with a total of 189 members. The groups were trained to operate and maintain ICs for long-term sustainability. A total of 1021 ICs were installed in 20 villages across 10 districts of Haryana state in India. The use of these ICs will result in savings of fuelwood of 378 tonnes per annum. During demonstration of various models in the villages, the beneficiaries were given freedom to choose an appropriate IC model after examining and igniting the IC and observing its effectiveness. This paper examines the fuel efficiences, as well as time saving, of the disseminated models by way of field research. It also concentrates on the approach taken for leveraging technology to enhance the income level of local UGs and promote the use of biomass in a sustainable manner.

96/00971 The influence of activated carbon type on NO x adsorptive capacity

Achieving win-win outcomes in environment–development programs is a laudable goal, but frequently difficult to realize. In this paper we review the possibilities for win-win climate and development outcomes in programs that distribute improved cookstoves with the use of carbon finance. We show that improved cookstove technologies form an important, if asymmetrical, environment–development interface, and illustrate the mutually supported local (development) and global (climate change) benefits of continued improved stoves use—where success in one program area is directly tied to benefits in the other. We also describe how program results are highly contextual and that, in practice, there are a number of challenges to achieving effective ‘win-win’ outcomes—including cultural, financial, governance and technological barriers. While carbon finance provides an opportunity to fund scaleable and enforceable stove programs, it may also introduce mutually supported impediments—where progress towards one set of program objectives, directly compromises progress towards other objectives. Drawing on development debates for improved cookstove use, scientific reports on stove-based greenhouse gas reductions, and preexisting case studies of carbon and non-carbon financed cookstoves in Peru, Uganda and Cambodia, we conclude that the challenge for future carbon financed improved cookstove projects will be to leverage inherent symbioses between climate and development arenas in order to overcome mutually supported impediments. Achieving substantive win-win conditions will require further scholarly and practical engagement to tackle the many outstanding challenges and uncertainties reviewed in this essay.

Cookstoves for the Developing World

Traditional wood, charcoal and coal stoves are used in hundreds of millions of homes. Their design can have a dramatic effcect on energy usage, the environment and community health. Over the past decade government programs, development assistance groups and community-based organizers have undertaken a thorough review of the requirements for successful dissemination of cookstove technology. A new generation of stove programs is now implementing these hard-won lessons. This effort encompasses everything from an examination of stove thermodynamics and materials science to market research and grass-roots educational campaigns. This paper looks at cookstoves in Kenya and programms in China and India. 3 refs.

Research needs for improving biofuel burning cookstove technologies

The contribution of the household biofuel cooking energy system in developing countries to anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases is significant and a potential exists to halve this contribution cost‐effectively. A review of past programmes aimed at disseminating stoves designed to reduce fuel consumption and exposures shows these programmes to have been only partially successful. If future programmes are to achieve their intended societal objectives and satisfy consumer requirements, research on designing improved stoves with lower emissions is critical. Integrated research will also be required on other related aspects, such as measurements of emissions from various stove‐biofuel combinations, and on developing improved procedures for testing, evaluation and dissemination. The multiple benefits that can accrue from these programmes makes continuing and increased investment of efforts worthwhile.