Results-Based Financing for Clean Cookstoves in Uganda

July 10, 2014 · 0 comments

Results-Based Financing for Clean Cookstoves in Uganda, 2014. IMC Worldwide for the Africa Clean Cooking Energy Solutions (ACCES).

The fundamental idea behind results-based financing (RBF) is that payments to a service provider are made contingent on the delivery of a pre-agreed result, with achievement of the result being subject to independent verification. An RBF approach is feasible as part of a broad package of measures to scale up the efficient and clean cooking sector in Uganda – the larger goal being to achieve a range of benefits, including health, in coordination with the government and key stakeholders. Results-based incentives should be combined with robust monitoring and verification arrangements, institutional strengthening, and awareness-raising campaigns to support progress in the sector over time.

What are the main considerations for RBF design and implementation? The potential market size for a commercial market at scale is approximately 2.5 million households. This is based on 100 per cent of urban and 29 per cent of rural population being in the commercial segment for cookstoves and assumes an ICS penetration rate of 80 per cent. This translates into a yearly demand of 1.2 million ICS.5 The high-level estimate of the cost of implementing a full RBF scheme to achieve this market scale is between US$8 million and US$16 million plus administration costs. Scheme costs are based on an incentive level from US$5 to US$10 per ICS and a total number of incentive ICS sales of 3.6 million during the five years of the RBF intervention.6 In turn, this RBF level is based on an estimated7 current willingness to pay a price of below US$10 and an average charcoal ICS price of US$12 to US$20.

Biomass fuel use and the exposure of children to particulate air pollution in southern Nepal

July 10, 2014 · 0 comments

Biomass fuel use and the exposure of children to particulate air pollution in southern Nepal. Environ Int. May 2014.

D. Devakumar, et al.

The exposure of children to air pollution in low resource settings is believed to be high because of the common use of biomass fuels for cooking. We used microenvironment sampling to estimate the respirable fraction of air pollution (particles with median diameter less than 4 μm) to which 7–9 year old children in southern Nepal were exposed. Sampling was conducted for a total 2649 h in 55 households, 8 schools and 8 outdoor locations of rural Dhanusha. We conducted gravimetric and photometric sampling in a subsample of the children in our study in the locations in which they usually resided (bedroom/living room, kitchen, veranda, in school and outdoors), repeated three times over one year. Using time activity information, a 24-hour time weighted average was modeled for all the children in the study. Approximately two-thirds of homes used biomass fuels, with the remainder mostly using gas.

The exposure of children to air pollution was very high. The 24-hour time weighted average over the whole year was 168 μg/m3. The non-kitchen related samples tended to show approximately double the concentration in winter than spring/autumn, and four times that of the monsoon season. There was no difference between the exposure of boys and girls. Air pollution in rural households was much higher than the World Health Organization and the National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Nepal recommendations for particulate exposure.

Indoor Air Pollution due to Inadequate Ventilation and its Impact on Health among Children of Less Than Five Years in Eastern Nepal

July 10, 2014 · 0 comments

Indoor Air Pollution due to Inadequate Ventilation and its Impact on Health among Children of Less Than Five Years in Eastern Nepal. Journal of Nobel Medical College > Vol 3, No 1 (2014)

Bijay Thapa, Nitendra Chaurasia

Introduction: According to WHO, half of the developing world’s population depend on biomass (wood, dung and agricultural residues) and coal for such basic needs as cooking and heating. The smoke produced from the burning of these solid fuels on open fires or traditional stoves is referred to as indoor air pollution. IAP increases the risk of COPD and of acute respiratory illness in childhood, the most important cause of death among children less than 5 years of age in developing countries.

Objectives: To find out the prevalence of IAP in terms of housing, overcrowding & ventilation. To assess the frequency, extent of biomass exposure and hazards on child health.

Materials and methods: The cross sectional study was carried out in the Urban area of Katahari V.D.C. 4,6,7,8 for the duration of 6 months from February to August 2013 among 200 households. Lottery method was used to choose the wards and households. Data were analyzed using percentages, proportions and statistical test (chi-square test).

Results: Due to excessive production of smoke and inadequate ventilation/chimney in the kitchen, such houses showed more prevalence of respiratory problems. Fifty percent of children were ill more than four times and 46% were seen at least twice. Almost all of them had experienced respiratory problems and 20% children were diagnosed with pneumonia in health facilities and treated. Ill ventilated kitchen, rooms along with dampness and absence of day light were the main factors contributing to the diseases comprising of 56%.

Clean break: Improved biomass stoves are not popular, people everywhere deserve modern cooking methods

July 8, 2014 · 0 comments

Below is the link to a May 2014 Nature article on cookstoves and responses to the article from Kirk Smith, Kaysara Khatun and Brenton Ladd.

Clean break: Improved biomass stoves are not popular, people everywhere deserve modern cooking methods. Nature, May 29, 2014.

Excerpt – “It is time for a fundamental shift in strategy — one that moves people away from burning biomass entirely.”

Efforts could be redirected to providing people with the energy they most aspire to: not a stove designed by someone in the developed world to cook cleaner, but the actual stoves used in the developed world, which run on electricity or hydrocarbons such as liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

This is not an absurd goal. The International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that bringing electricity and clean-cooking facilities to every person on Earth by 2030 will cost US$49 billion a year. Although that is a considerable sum, the agency points to major commitments by Indonesia, Ghana and Nigeria to aggressively switch large portions of their population to cooking with LPG.

Where will all this new energy come from? It will require some additional consumption of fossil fuels, and that will increase the emissions of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But the extra pollution would be minimal at the global scale: the IEA estimates that it would boost CO2 emissions by just 0.7% above its base scenario.

Renewable sources should be able to supply a major fraction of the needed energy: electrical micro-grids that use agricultural waste, solar cells or wind turbines to provide energy are popping up, for instance. Clean-cooking programmes have an enduring appeal, just not for their intended users. It is time to rethink the approach.

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Link: http://ehs.sph.berkeley.edu/krsmith/publications/2014/Nature%20LTE.pdf

Cookstoves: clean up fuel on two fronts, Nature, July 3, 2014- Kirk Smith.

Contrary to the impression you convey (see Nature 509, 533; 2014) biomass-burning cooking technology is advancing steadily. Stoves are now more efficient and emit much less smoke, and will remain popular as long as users can access biomass, such as wood and dung, at zero direct cost. Efforts must therefore continue to make clean fuels available and available fuels clean. In trials of new types of biomass-burning stove — including the trial covered by the 2012 report you mention, one factor contributing to the apparent negative outcome is promoters’ use of the term ‘improved’ to market new stoves, often without justification. This has led to the conclusion that the ‘improvements’ have not worked. Genuine improvements can stem only from systematic testing and assessment. Moreover, randomized controlled trials of health interventions need to follow strict criteria (see, for example, K. R. Smith et al. Lancet 378, 1717–1726; 2011).

This autumn, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves in Washington DC and ISO, the International Organization for Standardization, are due to finalize the first health-based emissions standards for biomass stoves. These are informed by the World Health Organization’s upcoming Indoor Air Quality Guidelines. No longer will funders, non-governmental organizations, the private sector, the media and researchers have to rely on vague and unsubstantiated descriptors to judge stove performance.

Kirk R. Smith University of California, Berkeley, USA. krksmith@berkeley.edu

Does Peer Use Influence Adoption of Efficient Cookstoves? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Uganda

July 2, 2014 · 0 comments

Does Peer Use Influence Adoption of Efficient Cookstoves? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Uganda, 2014. Beltramo, Theresa, et al. The Center for Effective Global Action, UC Berkeley.

We examine the effect of peer usage on consumer demand for efficient cookstoves with a randomized controlled trial in rural Uganda. We testifthe neighbors of buyers who ordered and received a stove are more likely to purchase an efficient cookstove than the neighbors of buyers who ordered but have not yet received a stove. We find that neighbors of buyers who have experience with the stove are not detectably more likely to purchase a stove than neighbors of buyers who have not yet received their stove. We do find evidence of peer effects in opinions about efficient cookstoves. Knowing that a prominent member of the community has the efficient stove predicts 17–22 percentage points higher odds of strongly favoring the stove. But this more favorable opinion seemingly has no impact on purchase decisions.

A Recipe for Developing Cookstove Adoption and Impact Indices

July 2, 2014 · 0 comments

A Recipe for Developing Cookstove Adoption and Impact Indices, 2014. Karen Troncoso. Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

The Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves has identified the need to develop a set of tools to measure the results of clean cookstove implementation programs, based on a users’ perspective approach. This guide is intended to show how to evaluate the adoption and the impact of a clean cookstove in terms of the benefits perceived by the users of these technologies and is meant for a wide-variety of sector stakeholders, including practitioners (private sector players, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), government agencies, etc.), donors, policymakers, development agencies, investors and academic institutions.

Webinars from the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves

July 2, 2014 · 0 comments

A Cross-Sectional Study of Household Biomass Fuel Use among a Peri-Urban Population in Malawi

July 2, 2014 · 0 comments

A Cross-Sectional Study of Household Biomass Fuel Use among a Peri-Urban Population in Malawi. Ann Am Thorac Soc. 2014 Jun 24.

Piddock KC1, Gordon SB, Ngwira A, Msukwa M, Nadeau G, Davis KJ, Nyirenda MJ, Mortimer K.
Author information
Corresponding Author: Kevin Mortimer, Email: Kevin.Mortimer@liverpool.ac.uk

Rationale: The Global Burden of Disease Study suggests almost 3.5 million people die as a consequence of household air pollution every year. Respiratory diseases including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and pneumonia in children are strongly associated with exposure to household air pollution. Smoke from burning biomass fuels for cooking, heating and lighting is the main contributor to high household air pollution levels in low-income countries like Malawi. A greater understanding of biomass fuel use in Malawi should enable us to address household air pollution associated communicable and non-communicable diseases more effectively.

Objectives: To conduct a cross-sectional analysis of biomass fuel use and population demographics among adults in Blantyre, Malawi. Methods: We used GPS-enabled PDAs to collect data on location, age, sex, marital status, education, occupation and fuel use. We describe these data and explore associations between demographics and reported fuel type.

Measurements and Main Results: 16079 adults participated (nine households refused), median age 30, similar distribution of males and females, 60% married and 62% received secondary school education. The most commonly reported male and female occupation was ‘salaried employment’ (40.7%) and ‘petty trader and marketing’ (23.5%) respectively. Charcoal (81.5% of households), wood (36.5%) and electricity (29.1%) were the main fuels used at home. Only 3.9% of households used electricity exclusively. Lower educational and occupational attainment was associated with greater use of wood.

Conclusions: This large cross-sectional study has identified extensive use of biomass fuels in a typical sub-Saharan Africa peri-urban population in which women and people of lower socio-economic status are disproportionately affected. Biomass fuel use is likely to be a major driver of existing communicable respiratory disease and the emerging non-communicable disease (especially respiratory and cardiovascular) epidemic in this region. Our data will help inform the rationale for specific intervention studies and the development of appropriately targeted public health strategies to tackle this important and poverty-related global health problem.

Clean Cooking and Child Survival Workshop Meeting Report

June 24, 2014 · 0 comments

Clean Cooking and Child Survival Workshop Meeting Report, May 2014. Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves.

Table of Contents

Overview and Objectives
Workshop Agenda
Ongoing Clean Cooking and Child Survival Studies
– The Ghana Randomized Air Pollution and Health Study (GRAPHS)
– Nepal Cookstove Intervention Trials
– Improved Bioethanol Cookstoves and Pregnancy Outcome in Nigeria
– Cooking and Pneumonia Study (CAPS) in Malawi

Intervention choice: selecting ‘clean’ and feasible interventions for evaluation
– Case study: Kenya mixed methods approach to informing choice of interventions

Standards, testing, and the clean cooking catalog
– Clean fuels: LPG, electricity and ethanol

Outcome assessment: practical lessons from the field
– Pre-term birth
– Pneumonia

Exposure assessment: new innovations in methods and modeling and practical lessons from the field
New innovations in modeling
Personal and household emissions
Evidence from clean cookstoves and clean fuels: moving forward
Action Items:
Appendix 1: Clean Cooking and Child Survival Meeting Participants

The potential role of lung microbiota in lung cancer attributed to household coal burning exposures

June 24, 2014 · 0 comments

The potential role of lung microbiota in lung cancer attributed to household coal burning exposures. Environ Mol Mutagen. 2014 Jun 3.

Hosgood HD 3rd, et al.

Bacteria influence site-specific disease etiology and the host’s ability to metabolize xenobiotics, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Lung cancer in Xuanwei, China has been attributed to PAH-rich household air pollution from burning coal. This study seeks to explore the role of lung microbiota in lung cancer among never smoking Xuanwei women and how coal burning may influence these associations. DNA from sputum and buccal samples of never smoking lung cancer cases (n = 8, in duplicate) and controls (n = 8, in duplicate) in two Xuanwei villages was extracted using a multi-step enzymatic and physical lysis, followed by a standardized clean-up. V1-V2 regions of 16S rRNA genes were PCR-amplified. Purified amplicons were sequenced by 454 FLX Titanium pyrosequencing and high-quality sequences were evaluated for diversity and taxonomic membership.

Bacterial diversity among cases and controls was similar in buccal samples (P = 0.46), but significantly different in sputum samples (P = 0.038). In sputum, Granulicatella (6.1 vs. 2.0%; P = 0.0016), Abiotrophia (1.5 vs. 0.085%; P = 0.0036), and Streptococcus (40.1 vs. 19.8%; P = 0.0142) were enriched in cases compared with controls. Sputum samples had on average 488.25 species-level OTUs in the flora of cases who used smoky coal (PAH-rich) compared with 352.5 OTUs among cases who used smokeless coal (PAH-poor; P = 0.047). These differences were explained by the Bacilli species (Streptococcus infantis and Streptococcus anginosus).

Our small study suggests that never smoking lung cancer cases have differing sputum microbiota than controls. Further, bacteria found in sputum may be influenced by environmental exposures associated with the type of coal burned in the home.

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