Human health: impacts, adaptation, and co-benefits. In: Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability. Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, pp. 709-754.
Authors: Smith, K.R., A. Woodward, D. Campbell-Lendrum, D.D. Chadee, Y. Honda, Q. Liu, J.M. Olwoch, B. Revich, and R. Sauerborn, 2014:
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We review diseases and other aspects of poor health that are sensitive to weather and climate. We examine the factors that influence the susceptibility ofpopulations and individuals to ill health due to variations in weather and climate, and describe steps that may be taken to reduce the impacts of climate change on human health.The chapter also includes a section on health “co-benefits.” Co-benefits are positive effects on human health that arise from interventions to reduce emissions of those CAPs that warm the planet or vice versa.
The effect of exposure to biomass smoke on respiratory symptoms in adult rural and urban Nepalese populations. Env Health, Nov 2014.
Authors: Om P Kurmi, et al.
Background – Half of the world’s population is exposed to household air pollution from biomass burning. This study aimed to assess the relationship between respiratory symptoms and biomass smoke exposure in rural and urban Nepal.
Methods – A cross-sectional study of adults (16+ years) in a rural population (n = 846) exposed to biomass smoke and a non-exposed urban population (n = 802) in Nepal. A validated questionnaire was used along with measures of indoor air quality (PM2.5 and CO) and outdoor PM2.5.
Results – Both men and women exposed to biomass smoke reported more respiratory symptoms compared to those exposed to clean fuel. Women exposed to biomass were more likely to complain of ever wheeze (32.0 % vs. 23.5%; p = 0.004) and breathlessness (17.8% vs. 12.0%, p = 0.017) compared to males with tobacco smoking being a major risk factor. Chronic cough was similar in both the biomass and non-biomass smoke exposed groups whereas chronic phlegm was reported less frequently by participants exposed to biomass smoke. Higher PM2.5 levels (>=2 SDs of the 24-hour mean) were associated with breathlessness (OR = 2.10, 95% CI 1.47, 2.99) and wheeze (1.76, 1.37, 2.26).
Conclusions – The study suggests that while those exposed to biomass smoke had higher prevalence of respiratory symptoms, urban dwellers (who were exposed to higher ambient air pollution) were more at risk of having productive cough.
Recent climate and air pollution impacts on Indian agriculture. PNAS, Nov 2014.
Authors: Jennifer Burney, et al.
Recent research on the agricultural impacts of climate change has primarily focused on the roles of temperature and precipitation. These studies show that India has already been negatively affected by recent climate trends. However, anthropogenic climate changes are a result of both global emissions of long-lived greenhouse gases (LLGHGs) and other short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). Two potent SLCPs, tropospheric ozone and black carbon, have direct effects on crop yields beyond their indirect effects through climate; emissions of black carbon and ozone precursors have risen dramatically in India over the past three decades.
Here, to our knowledge for the first time, we present results of the combined effects of climate change and the direct effects of SLCPs on wheat and rice yields in India from 1980 to 2010. Our statistical model suggests that, averaged over India, yields in 2010 were up to 36% lower for wheat than they otherwise would have been, absent climate and pollutant emissions trends, with some densely populated states experiencing 50% relative yield losses. [Our point estimates for rice (−20%) are similarly large, but not statistically significant.] Upper-bound estimates suggest that an overwhelming fraction (90%) of these losses is due to the direct effects of SLCPs. Gains from addressing regional air pollution could thus counter expected future yield losses resulting from direct climate change effects of LLGHGs.
Conditions for sustained adoption of cookstoves and reliable health improvement case study: The Maasai Stoves and Solar Project of the International Collaborative for Science, Education, and the Environment
One of the main goals of cookstoves is to improve health. Because the widespread use of medical examinations to monitor health improvements is not practical, our community uses smoke reduction as the most feasible method to measure the health impacts of new cookstoves. 
Less smoke means a reduction in particulate matter and carbon monoxide, which are responsible for many health problems. But health impacts measured by smoke removal are only reliable when women continue to use their new stoves well and don’t return to traditional methods for a significant fraction of their cooking. Over the past four years, our project has been working with Maasai mothers in Tanzania with a strong focus on designing and manufacturing cookstoves. We are finding that the stove has a high sustained-adoption rate. We have asked ourselves why this is so and why, when there are now explicit behavior change programs being introduced, we do not need one.
Why is it that the women never abandon this particular stove? The key, we have found is having a stove that the women actually want. They want it because it is safer for themselves and their families and they are tired of smoky homes. They want it because it reduces the menial labor of gathering firewood. They want it because it is convenient for all the kind of cooking they do and it’s faster.
To design the stove we worked alongside Maasai mamas for a year and a half trying out different prototypes and listening to their assessments. For us, the breakthrough for smoke reduction and safety was the use of a chimney. The smoke is channeled up through the chimney away from the lungs of Maasai mamas and children and the bricks of the stove and chimney stay cool so that children don’t burn themselves. Our design requires some manufacturing and construction so we have employed locals to do all the firebox manufacturing and teams of Maasai women are organized to build the stoves into the homes of new clients. As the project expands, the women experts train new teams of women. The desirability of the stove, and the involvement of Maasai women in its distribution and installation together, have led to an integration of the stove into the social fabric. This has guaranteed total sustained adoption and therefore measurable health impact.
Laboratory demonstration and field verification of a Wireless Cookstove Sensing System (WiCS) for determining cooking duration and fuel consumption. Energy for Sustainable Development. Volume 23, December 2014, Pages 59–67.
Authors: E Graham, et al.
With improved cookstoves (ICs) increasingly distributed to households for a range of air pollution interventions and carbon-credit programs, it has become necessary to accurately monitor the duration of cooking and the amount of fuel consumed. In this study, laboratory trials were used to create temperature-based algorithms for quantifying cooking duration and estimating fuel consumption from stove temperatures. Field validation of the algorithms employed a Wireless Cookstove Sensing System (WiCS) that offers remote, low-cost temperature sensing and the wireless transmission of temperature data to a centralized database using local cellular networks. Field trials included 68 unscripted household cooking events. In the laboratory, temperature responses of the IC body and that of a removable temperature probe (J-bar) followed well-known physical models during cooking, indicating that location of the temperature sensor is not critical.
Affordability for sustainable energy development products. Applied Energy, Volume 132, 1 November 2014, Pages 308–316.
Paul Riley
Clean burning products, for example cooking stoves, can reduce household air pollution (HAP), which prematurely kills 3.5 million people each year. By careful selection of components into a product package with micro-finance used for the capital payment, barriers to large-scale uptake of products that remove HAP are reduced. Such products reduce smoke from cooking and the lighting from electricity produced, eliminates smoke from kerosene lamps. A bottom-up financial model, that is cognisant of end user social needs, has been developed to compare different products for use in rural areas of developing countries. The model is freely available for use by researchers and has the ability to assist in the analysis of changing assumptions.
Business views of an individual villager, the village itself and a country view are presented. The model shows that affordability (defined as the effect on household expenses as a result of a product purchase) and recognition of end-user social needs are as important as product cost. The effects of large-scale deployment (greater that 10 million per year) are described together with level of subsidy required by the poorest people. With the assumptions given, the model shows that pico-hydro is the most cost effective, but not generally available, one thermo-acoustic technology option does not require subsidy, but it is only at technology readiness level 2 (NASA definition) therefore costs are predicted and very large investment in manufacturing capability is needed to meet the cost target.
Thermo-electric is currently the only technology that can be used worldwide every day of the year and is available without research. However, it is not yet self-financing and therefore requires subsidy or diversion of more household income to be affordable. A combination of photovoltaic and clean cookstove may be suitable in areas where sufficient solar radiation is available on most days. Affordability is shown to be highly dependent on the income that can be derived from carbon credits.
WASHplus Weekly – Issue 166 | Oct 24, 2014 | Focus on Clean Cookstoves
This issue highlights recent reports, articles, announcements, and upcoming events related to clean cookstoves. Included are a review of the evidence on behavior change techniques in clean cooking interventions and a systematic review of Chinese language literature on adoption of improved stoves and clean fuels.
REPORTS
The Use of Behaviour Change Techniques in Clean Cooking Interventions to Achieve Health, Economic and Environmental Impact: A Review of the Evidence and Scorecard of Effectiveness, 2014. N Goodwin. (LINK)
The aim of this study is to review the use of behavior change approaches for clean cooking interventions in resource-poor settings. Using publicly available data, the report synthesizes the evidence of the use of behavior change techniques (BCTs) for human and environmental outcomes and impact. The report includes a set of case studies on selected interventions that use BCTs and applies a scorecard to assess the effectiveness of each intervention’s approach to behavior change. It also includes a set of recommendations for the clean cooking sector to consider.
Chinese Literature Review on Adoption of Clean Cookstoves and Fuels, 2014. Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves. (LINK)
In 2013, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves supported a systematic review of Chinese language literature on the adoption of improved stoves and clean fuels to complement a DFID-commissioned review conducted by the Evidence for Policy and Practice Information and Coordinating Centre at the University of Liverpool. More than 100 studies across Asia, Africa, and Latin America were reviewed to identify the key enablers and barriers influencing the adoption of improved stoves and clean fuel.
The 2013 Results Report: Sharing Progress on the Path to Adoption of Cleaner and More Efficient Cooking Solutions, 2014. Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves (GACC). (LINK)
The 2013 Results Report is the second GACC report illuminating traction and trends in the cookstove and fuel sector. Building on results reporting first conducted in 2012, this report tracks partners’ self-reported progress in 2013 toward their shared adoption goal. As such, where possible, the report also offers year-over-year analysis of GACC partner activities, including analyses comparing new and repeat respondents to ensure that results are accurately stated and interpreted.
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Can Currently Available Advanced Combustion Biomass Cook-Stoves Provide Health Relevant Exposure Reductions? Results from Initial Assessment of Select Commercial Models in India. Ecohealth. 2014 Oct 8.
Authors: Sambandam S, Balakrishnan K, et al.
World Health Organisation Collaborating Center for Occupational and Environmental Health, Department of Environmental Health Engineering, Sri Ramachandra University, No.1, Ramachandra Nagar, Porur, Chennai, 600116, India, sankars@ehe.org.in.
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.
The Use of Behaviour Change Techniques in Clean Cooking Interventions to Achieve Health, Economic and Environmental Impact: A review of the evidence and scorecard of effectiveness, 2014. (Executive summary)
Authors: Nicholas J. Goodwin, Sarah Ellen O’Farrell, Kirstie Jagoe, et al.
The aim of this study was to review the use of behaviour change approaches in clean cooking interventions in resource-poor settings. Using publicly available data, the report synthesises the evidence of the use of behaviour change techniques (BCTs) for human and environmental outcomes and impact. The report includes a set of case studies on selected interventions that use BCTs and applies a scorecard to assess the effectiveness of each intervention’s approach to behaviour change. The report then discusses the findings from the review and case studies and includes a set of recommendations for the clean cooking sector to consider. A planned task was to compare interventions through an economic return on investment (cost-benefit) lens, however the availability and consistency of data did not make this possible.
Behavioral Attitudes and Preferences in Cooking Practices with Traditional Open-Fire Stoves in Peru, Nepal, and Kenya: Implications for Improved Cookstove Interventions. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2014, 11(10).
Authors: Evelyn L. Rhodes, Robert Dreibelbis, Elizabeth M. Klasen, et al.
Global efforts are underway to develop and promote improved cookstoves which may reduce the negative health and environmental effects of burning solid fuels on health and the environment. Behavioral studies have considered cookstove user practices, needs and preferences in the design and implementation of cookstove projects; however, these studies have not examined the implications of the traditional stove use and design across multiple resource-poor settings in the implementation and promotion of improved cookstove projects that utilize a single, standardized stove design.
We conducted in-depth interviews and direct observations of meal preparation and traditional, open-fire stove use of 137 women aged 20–49 years in Kenya, Peru and Nepal prior in the four-month period preceding installation of an improved cookstove as part of a field intervention trial. Despite general similarities in cooking practices across sites, we identified locally distinct practices and norms regarding traditional stove use and desired stove improvements. Traditional stoves are designed to accommodate specific cooking styles, types of fuel, and available resources for maintenance and renovation. The tailored stoves allow users to cook and repair their stoves easily. Women in each setting expressed their desire for a new stove, but they articulated distinct specific alterations that would meet their needs and preferences.
Improved cookstove designs need to consider the diversity of values and needs held by potential users, presenting a significant challenge in identifying a “one size fits all” improved cookstove design. Our data show that a single stove design for use with locally available biomass fuels will not meet the cooking demands and resources available across the three sites. Moreover, locally produced or adapted improved cookstoves may be needed to meet the cooking needs of diverse populations while addressing health and environmental concerns of traditional stoves.
