Field Study of Black Carbon Reductions From Use of Improved Cookstoves, 2014.
Project Surya
Black carbon (BC) is a component of fine particulate matter that is generated during incomplete combustion of fossil and biomass fuels. BC is thought to contribute to human lung disease and premature mortality, is a short-lived climate forcing agent, and the second largest contributor to global warming after carbon dioxide. Because residential uses of biomass fuel (for cooking, heating, and lighting) contribute significantly to regional production of BC, targeting cooking for reduction in emissions has been identified as one of the top 14 measures out of 400 for near-term mitigation of climate change (Shindell et al., 2012). Similarly, of all measures to reduce BC, targeting residential sources could have the greatest overall health benefits (Anenberg et al., 2013). These directives may especially hold true in India, where residential biofuel use is the biggest individual source, contributing close to 50% of all BC emissions (Streets et al., 2013).
Thus, usage of improved biomass cookstoves that can substantially reduce BC in households may result in significant health and climate benefits. In a series of controlled cooking tests in one household, Project Surya identified that “forced draft” stoves were the most effective technologies, of those tested, for reducing black carbon concentrations. While this data is encouraging, more data is needed to quantify the reductions in BC concentrations when a household uses a forced-draft cookstove for daily cooking. The current lack of data under real-world conditions is due to multiple factors, including challenges in capturing BC emissions in the field and the cost of data collection using industry standard instruments.
