Biomass Cookstoves
According to the World Health Organization, indoor air pollution is responsible for over 1.5 million deaths per year in developing countries. Primarily this is due to the use of primitive 3-stone fires. In rural Africa the largest source of household energy is acquired from biomass fuel. Throughout Africa resource-poor women and children have the arduous tasks of cooking and collecting fuel. In turn these women and their children are extremely susceptible to the effects of IAP, from inhalation of the smoke and incomplete combustibles i.e. particulates.
Not only do the emissions and the PIC (products of incomplete combustion) of an open 3-stone fire cause problems, the inefficiency of the combustion event requires more fuel to be used than is necessary. The excess use of fuel for cooking has caused shortages in the available fuel that can be found nearby the family homes.
While not all cooking styles or cultural customs use a stove with a chimney, a highly effective cookstove requires one to carry the smoke and gases out of any living quarters. Regardless of how complete the combustion of a new clean burning cookstove is, if the smoke is left in the living chamber it is a definite set back in the effort to eliminate IAP.
Harmful effects of incomplete biomass fuel combustion can be reduced by several means. Cleaner fuel, improved cookstoves, and adding ventilation in the cooking area are the three most effective ways of reducing incomplete combustion and indoor air pollution (IAP).
The Millennium Villages Project (MVP) is investigating low-cost, scalable stove technologies that may offer improved efficiency and indoor air quality at institutions (schools) and in households. These investigations consist primarily of assessment of stove technologies available near MVP sites through efficiency tests (fuelwood consumed per kg or liter of food cooked) and, where possible, measurement of key indoor air pollutants (PM10 and carbon monoxide). At MVP sites where pre-existing data or MVP-fielded tests have confirmed that improved cookstove designs available locally provide cleaner, more efficient cooking options, MVP has begun implementation of these stove interventions, along with data gathering on fuel savings. In other cases, assessment of local cookstove designs is underway, with stove installation proceeding at a limited scale for testing purposes, and large-scale implementation pending the test results.
Lead researcher: Edwin Adkins, jea98@columbia.edu
Researcher: Tae Young Lee, tl2305@columbia.edu
