Coal briquettes and improved stoves: an option for both environment and climate

September 16, 2009 · 0 comments

Environ Sci Technol. 2009 Aug 1; 43(15):5586-91.

Deployment of coal briquettes and improved stoves: possibly an option for both environment and climate.

Zhi G, Peng C, Chen Y, Liu D, Sheng G, Fu J.

Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Centre for Atmosphere Watch & Services of CMA, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.

The use of coal briquettes and improved stoves by Chinese households has been encouraged by the government as a means of reducing air pollution and health impacts. In this study we have shown that these two improvements also relate to climate change. Our experimental measurements indicate that if all coal were
burned as briquettes in improved stoves, particulate matter (PM), organic carbon (OC), and black carbon (BC) could be annually reduced by 63 +/- 12%, 61 +/- 10%, and 98 +/- 1.7%, respectively. Also, the ratio of BC to OC (BC/OC) could be reduced by about 97%, from 0.49 to 0.016, which would make the primary emissions of household coal combustion more optically scattering. Therefore, it is suggested that the government consider the possibility of: (i) phasing out direct burning of bituminous raw-coal-chunks in households; (ii) phasing out simple stoves in households; and, (iii) financially supporting the research, production, and popularization of improved stoves and efficient coal briquettes. These actions may have considerable environmental benefits by reducing emissions and mitigating some of the impacts of household coal burning on the climate. International cooperation is required both technologically and financially to
accelerate the emission reduction in the world.

PCIA – Cardiovascular Mortality and Household Solid Fuel Use

September 16, 2009 · 0 comments

Partnership for Clean Indoor Air – On June 23, 2009, PCIA held its first Webinar. We were very fortunate to have John McCracken of Harvard University present new research findings on the estimation of cardiovascular mortality due to elevated blood pressure attributable to household solid fuel use. Twenty PCIA Partners from the academic and research fields participated in the Webinar.

Links to recording, Q&A, etc. – http://www.pciaonline.org/node/959

Pneumonia in severely malnourished children in developing countries

September 16, 2009 · 0 comments

Tropical Medicine & International Health, Volume 14 Issue 10, Pages 1173 – 1189, Sep 2009

Pneumonia in severely malnourished children in developing countries – mortality risk, aetiology and validity of WHO clinical signs: a systematic review

Mohammod Jobayer Chisti, Marc Tebruegge, Sophie La Vincente, Stephen M. Graham and Trevor Duke

Corresponding Author Trevor Duke, Centre for International Child Health, Department of Paediatrics,
E-mail: trevor.duke@rch.org.au

Objectives – To quantify the degree by which moderate and severe degrees of malnutrition increase the mortality risk in pneumonia, to identify potential differences in the aetiology of pneumonia between children with and without severe malnutrition, and to evaluate the validity of WHO-recommended clinical signs (age-specific fast breathing and chest wall indrawing) for the diagnosis of pneumonia in severely malnourished children.

Methods – Systematic search of the existing literature using a variety of databases (Medline, EMBASE, the Web of Science, Scopus and CINAHL).

Results – Mortality risk: Sixteen relevant studies were identified, which universally showed that children with pneumonia and moderate or severe malnutrition are at higher risk of death. For severe malnutrition, reported relative risks ranged from 2.9 to 121.2; odds ratios ranged from 2.5 to 15.1. For moderate malnutrition, relative risks ranged from 1.2 to 36.5. Aetiology: Eleven studies evaluated the aetiology of pneumonia in severely malnourished children. Commonly isolated bacterial pathogens were Klebsiella pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus pneumoniae, Escherichia coli, and Haemophilus influenzae. The spectrum and frequency of organisms differed from those reported in children without severe malnutrition. There are very few data on the role of respiratory viruses and tuberculosis. Clinical signs: Four studies investigating the validity of clinical signs showed that WHO-recommended clinical signs were less sensitive as predictors of radiographic pneumonia in severely malnourished children.

Conclusions – Pneumonia and malnutrition are two of the biggest killers in childhood. Guidelines for the care of children with pneumonia and malnutrition need to take into account this strong and often lethal association if they are to contribute to the UN Millennium Development Goal 4, aiming for substantial reductions in childhood mortality. Additional data regarding the optimal diagnostic approach to and management of pneumonia and malnutrition are required from regions where death from these two diseases is common.

World Development Report 2010 – Climate change and development

September 16, 2009 · 1 comment

World Bank. 2009. World Development Report 2010: Development and Climate Change.

Full-text: http://go.worldbank.org/ZXULQ9SCC0

Poverty reduction and sustainable development remain core global priorities. A quarter of the population of developing countries still lives on less than $1.25 a day. One billion people lack clean drinking water; 1.6 billion, electricity; and 3 billion, adequate sanitation. A quarter of all developing country children are malnourished. Addressing these needs must remain the priorities both of developing countries and of development aid—recognizing that development will get harder, not easier, with climate change.

Yet climate change must urgently be addressed. Climate change threatens all countries, with developing countries the most vulnerable. Estimates are that they would bear some 75 to 80 percent of the costs of damages caused by the changing climate. Even 2°C warming above preindustrial temperatures—the minimum the world is likely to experience—could result in permanent reductions in GDP of 4 to 5 percent for Africa and South Asia. Most developing countries lack sufficient financial and technical capacities to manage increasing
climate risk. They also depend more directly on climate-sensitive natural resources for income and well-being. And most are in tropical and subtropical regions already subject to highly variable climate.

Economic growth alone is unlikely to be fast or equitable enough to counter threats from climate change, particularly if it remains carbon intensive and accelerates global warming. So climate policy cannot be framed as a choice between growth and climate change. In fact, climate-smart policies are those that enhance development, reduce vulnerability, and finance the transition to low-carbon growth paths.

Fiji – Smokeless stoves for the environment

September 9, 2009 · 0 comments

fijiCheapest way to cook, September 09, 2009

Sunita Devi and Ane Nauklivou demonstrate the new smokeless stove at Vatuwaqa yesterday. It’s said to be a more environment friendly way and the cheapest to cook food.

And the plan is for the bio-mass smokeless cooking stoves made out of recycled cylinders — to take over in communities that use open fires for cooking. The stoves use sawdust and dry wood or sticks and came out of a partnership between the Secretariat of the Pacific Community’s FACT project team (Facilitating Agricultural Commodity Trade) and FRIENDS (Foundation for Rural Integrated Enterprises N Development).

The two stoves were tested at Dhirendra Sharma’s business house ‘On Time Engineering’ in Vatuwaqa yesterday.

FACT project member John Bennet said the two stoves used discarded recycled cylinders which would otherwise be sent abroad for recycling or discarded along with garbage.

“The shipment of these cylinders is an effective measure to control pollution but it is expensive. So we have designed it in such a way that could serve a useful purpose locally and benefit the environment as well,” Mr Bennet said.

“We need to start using measures that reduces pollution and decreases the risk of damaging the ozone layer.” It took two days for Sunita Devi, the engineering supervisor to patch up the metals into a stove. The broader and larger stove of the two stoves called the wood-bio-mass burner, Mr Bennet said, used dry leaves, wood, sticks and coconut husks to create fire.

The slimmer stove called saw-dust burner used saw dust. Mr Sharma said one whole compressed set of saw dust could prepare meals for three days.

“Saw dust doesn’t cost at all and what makes it more interesting is that gives out no smoke, so there are no chances of coughing, or the pot getting black or damaging the ozone layer.”

“Imagine the amount of cooking that can be saved and money on buying kerosene,” Mr Sharma said.

The stoves also have mechanisms to control heat and turning the fire out. The group was successful in boiling dalo on the saw dust burner and water on the wood-bio-mass burner.

Source – http://www.fijitimes.com/story.aspx?id=129054

India – Household energy consumption pattern and socio-cultural dimensions

September 9, 2009 · 1 comment

Biomass and Bioenergy, 14 August 2009

Household energy consumption pattern and socio-cultural dimensions associated with it: A case study of rural Haryana, India

Vinod Joon, A. Chandra, M. Bhattacharya

A survey of household energy consumption pattern was carried out in a village of Jhajjhar district of Haryana, India in the year 2007. The households surveyed covered heterogeneous population belonging to different income, educational and social groups. There was more availability and utilization of solid biomass fuels as energy resources in domestic sector as compared to the commercial fuels. Dung cakes, crop residues and firewood were found to be the three main fuels used for cooking, though LPG was also used along with biomass fuels. But complete conversion to cleaner fuels has not taken place yet even in households that has been using LPG for many years. Income was an important factor determining the choice of fuel for cooking, but there were some socio-cultural factors which were equally important in making fuel preferences at household level.

Biochar – One way forward for soil carbon in offset mechanisms in Africa?

September 9, 2009 · 1 comment

Environmental Science & Policy, 21 August 2009

Biochar–One way forward for soil carbon in offset mechanisms in Africa?

Thea Whitman, Johannes Lehmann,

The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) has had relatively little success in Africa due to a number of factors. Increases in agricultural soil carbon have strong benefits for soil health as well as potential for carbon sequestration, but such projects are currently excluded from the CDM and other offset mechanisms. Small-scale biochar systems with net emission reductions may hold a key for Africa to engage with the international offset mechanisms and open the door to soil carbon sequestration projects.

Nepal – Biogas: A promising renewable technology

September 9, 2009 · 4 comments

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 13, Issue 9, December 2009, Pages 2668-2674

Biogas: A promising renewable technology and its impact on rural households in Nepal

Hari Katuwal, Alok K. Bohara,

Nepal, one of the least developed countries, is characterized by very low per capita energy consumption. Because of a lack of other commercial sources of energy, the country relies heavily on traditional fuel source, especially firewood. In order to solve the energy problem in rural areas, the country initiated production and distribution of several renewable energy technologies. Among several technologies, biogas has been proved to be viable and emerged as a promising technology. It has been one of the most successful models for the production of clean, environmental friendly, cost effective source of energy and has multiple benefits. In this paper we present the current state and discuss benefits of the biogas technology in Nepal. Improved health, increased crop productivity, saved time for women are some of the major benefits to the users. It provides economic benefit to the country through reduced deforestation and carbon trading. In addition, by reducing green house gas emission, the technology helps in mitigating global warming and climate change. Thus biogas is a renewable, sustainable and clean source of energy that provides multiple benefits; locally and globally. With some exception, cattle dung has been used primarily as an input and the technology is limited to households only. More systematic and comprehensive study supported by research and development is required to use other degradable waste such as municipal waste to produce biogas on a large scale.

Tibet – Prevention of environmental degradation caused by biomass

September 9, 2009 · 0 comments

Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Volume 13, Issue 9, December 2009, Pages 2562-2570

Prevention of Tibetan eco-environmental degradation caused by traditional use of biomass

Q. Wang

Tibet is short in fossil energy, but rich in renewable energy sources, such as biomass, hydro, solar, geothermal, and wind power. This potential energy supply in Tibet can be juxtaposed to what drives Tibetan energy consumption its economic motivation and its cultural traditions. Currently, biomass heavily dominates Tibet’s energy consumption. In 2003, total energy consumption was about 2 million tce (ton coal equivalent), traditional biomass accounting for nearly 70%. The rarified atmosphere and use of outdated stoves, make for a very low combustion efficiency, utilizing 10-15% of the potential energy of biomass. With population and economic growth, traditional use of biomass has become the principal factor responsible for deforestation, grassland degradation, desertification, and soil erosion. To eradicate the negative impact of the traditional use of biomass on the eco-environment in Tibet, a series of effective countermeasures are investigated. Among these are improved efficiency of stoves, widespread use of solar energy, hydroelectricity as a substitute for traditional biomass, and the development of biogas.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in non-smokers

September 9, 2009 · 0 comments

Lancet. 2009 Aug 29;374(9691):733-43.

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in non-smokers.

Salvi SS, Barnes PJ.

Chest Research Foundation, Pune, India. ssalvi@crfindia.com

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Tobacco smoking is established as a major risk factor, but emerging evidence suggests that other risk factors are important, especially in developing countries. An estimated 25-45% of patients with COPD have never smoked; the burden of non-smoking COPD is therefore much higher than previously believed. About 3 billion people, half the worldwide population, are exposed to smoke from biomass fuel compared with 1.01 billion people who smoke tobacco, which suggests that exposure to biomass smoke might be the biggest risk factor for COPD globally. We review the evidence for the association of COPD with biomass fuel, occupational exposure to dusts and gases, history of pulmonary tuberculosis, chronic asthma, respiratory-tract infections during childhood, outdoor air pollution, and poor socioeconomic status.

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