Pollution More With Some Improved Cookstoves Than Traditional Mud Stoves

Improved cookstoves are touted to cause less pollution than traditional mud stoves.

Improved cookstoves are touted to cause less pollution than traditional mud stoves. However a new study has found something entirely different.

The first real-world, head-to-head comparison of "improved cookstoves" (ICs) and traditional mud stoves has revealed that some ICs may at times release more of the worrisome "black carbon," or soot - particles that are tied to serious health and environmental concerns - than traditional mud stoves or open-cook fires.

Health Effects of Global Warming
Greenhouse effect causes excessive heat to build up in the earth’s atmosphere causing global warming and affects the environment and health.

The report has raised concerns about the leading hope as a clean cooking technology in the developing world.

Abhishek Kar, Hafeez Rehman, Jennifer Burney and colleagues explained that hundreds of millions of people in developing countries in South Asia, Africa and South America are exposed to soot from mud stoves and 3-stone fires used for cooking, heating and light.

The particles can be inhaled deeply into the lungs and have been linked to health problems similar to those associated with cigarette smoking. In addition, black soot released into the atmosphere is a major factor in global warming.

Pigeon Feathers to Judge Pollution Levels
Can the pollution level of a city be judged by pigeon feathers? Yes, if research done at a university here is to be believed.

Aid agencies and governments have been seeking replacements for traditional cookstoves and fires to remedy those problems, with ICs as one of the leading hopes.

Until now, however, there have been little real-world data on the actual performance of ICs - which have features like enhanced air flow and a battery-powered fan to burn wood and other fuel more cleanly.

ISRO Chief Concerned About River Pollution
The man heading India's space programme says the pollution of the river Yamuna is a major problem.

The researchers measured black carbon emissions from five IC models and traditional mud stoves.

They did the test in real homes as part of Project Surya, which quantifies the impacts of cleaner cooking technologies in a village in India.

Six Towns in India Selected for Eco-City Project
Six Towns in the country namely Kottayam, Puri, Tirupati, Ujjain, Vrindavan and Thanjavour have been selected in the pilot phase of the Eco-City Programme.

Forced draft stoves burned cleaner than any other IC. However, black carbon concentrations from all ICs varied significantly, even for the same stove from one day to the next.

Surprisingly, some natural draft stoves occasionally emitted more black carbon than the traditional mud cookstove.

The study has been published in ACS' journal Environmental Science 'n' Technology.

Source-ANI