India – Association between biomass fuel and pulmonary tuberculosis

August 6, 2009 · 0 comments

Thorax. 2009 Aug;64(8):705-8.

Association between biomass fuel and pulmonary tuberculosis: a nested case-control study.

Kolappan C, Subramani R.

Tuberculosis Research Centre, Mayor V R Ramanathan Road, Chetput, Chennai, India.
kola155@rediffmail.com

OBJECTIVE: To quantify the association between biomass fuel usage and sputum-positive pulmonary tuberculosis.

Methodology: A tuberculosis prevalence survey was conducted in a random sample of 50 rural units (villages) and three urban units in the Tiruvallur district of Tamilnadu, India during the period 2001-2003. Additional data regarding exposure to tobacco smoking, alcohol consumption, biomass fuel usage and Standard of Living Index (SLI) were also collected from the study participants. A nested case-control study was carried out in this population. Cases are defined as bacteriological-positive cases diagnosed by either sputum smear or culture examination. For each case, five age-(within +/-5 years of age) and sex-matched controls were selected randomly from the non-cases residing in the same village/unit. Thus, 255 cases and 1275 controls were included in this study.

RESULTS: The unadjusted OR measured from univariate analysis for biomass fuel is 2.9 (95% CI 1.8 to 4.7). The adjusted OR measured from multivariate analysis using Cox regression is 1.7 (95% CI 1.0 to 2.9). Thirty-six percent of cases are attributable to biomass fuel usage.

CONCLUSION: The findings from this case-control study add to the evidence for an independent association between biomass smoke and pulmonary tuberculosis. Improvement in standards of living brought about by economic development will lead to more people using cleaner fuels for cooking than biomass fuel which in turn will lead to a reduction in the occurrence of pulmonary tuberculosis in the community.

Solar Cooking Wiki

August 6, 2009 · 0 comments

mcardle-afghanistanSponsored by Solar Cookers International, this Wiki provides news, technical information and links to solar cooking organzations.

January 2008 marked the 20th Anniversary of the incorporation of Solar Cookers International (SCI). This organization has evolved from promoting solar box cookers to advocating an effective integrated approach to cooking through use of the solar cooker, the fuel efficient stove and the hay basket or heat retention device. SCI Kenya offices now have all these items on display, along with a simple solar light that can be charged during the day and used after the sun goes down.

Link – Solar Cooking Archive Wiki

World Bank – Improving indoor air in rural Bangladesh

August 6, 2009 · 1 comment

Improving indoor air in rural Bangladesh : results of controlled experiments, 2009. (pdf, 218KB)

Dasgupta, Susmita ; Huq, Mainul ; Khaliquzzaman, M. ; Wheeler, David ;

In rural Bangladesh, Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) is dangerously high for poor households dependent on biomass cooking fuels. Based on earlier World Bank research, controlled, scientifically monitored experiments were conducted in Burumdi village, Narayanganj district, to test the effects of structural arrangements and ventilation practices on IAP. Findings suggest optimal structural choices and village-level measures to reduce IAP exposure.

Bangladesh – Grameen Shakti: Improved cooking technology for rural women

August 5, 2009 · 1 comment

Grameen Shakti website – http://www.gshakti.org/ics.html

In rural Bangladesh, the energy consumption for cooking outstrips the demand for all other uses of energy. Grameen Shakti has launched a program to promote improved cook stoves in Bangladesh to address the high demand for biomass fuels and indoor air pollution caused by cooking on polluting, traditional stoves.

GS has become interested in ICS because it helps women and makes their lives easier. GS sees a potential market of at least 2 million ICSs in the first three years of the program. GS plans to depend on two types of local players for expanding Improved Cook Stoves – local technicians and local manufacturers. GS has already trained more than 600 local youth especially women to make, sale and repair ICSs. GS plans to train more technicians in the next phase .These trained technicians will train others as well as produce and commercialize improved cook stoves on behalf on Grammen Shakti. Many of them will soon start their own business in arrangement with GS and will lay the basis of developing ICS entrepreneurs at the rural level. GS has developed and pilot tested its own model of three mouthed stoves which is more efficient than previous models in Bangladesh. GS has also set up 10 manufacturing units in rural settings for constructing ICS accessories such as metal grates and chimneys. These manufacturing units are run by entrepreneurs with the financial and technical assistance from GS This strategy has proved to be successful. More than 2000 ICSs have been constructed within first six months of the program. Women and commercial organizations such as food industries, restaurant hostels, soap manufactures have shown great interest in ICS.

UK Car firm program to provide cookstoves in Kenya

August 4, 2009 · 1 comment

Car firm’s bosses take green route

ONE of the UK’s leading car leasing firms, Blackpool-registered UK Carline, has launched a scheme to help the environment. And bosses at the South Shore company claim the CO2 offset initiative is unique among car leasing firms.

The firm has launched the scheme to enable its private and public sector clients to help manage their carbon emissions.

In 2008 it leased more than 3,500 cars and has a sales turnover of £39m with more than 40 years’ experience in vehicle supply, car leasing and contract hire.

One of the projects to benefit from UK Carline’s initiative involves families in Kenya, who are being given energy-saving cooking stoves. The new stoves will prevent three tonnes of carbon being emitted into the atmosphere every year.

About £50,000 will be invested into offset schemes by UK Carline each year.

General manager Simon Booth said: “We have calculated the CO2 output that cars and vans will produce during the period of the contract and we’ve decided we can re-invest that cost into credible and ethical projects that will offset the carbon produced.

“There is a fast growing trend for any organisation that leases cars to look at reducing or offsetting CO2 emissions.

“Many of our corporate clients are already switching to this scheme and we believe our initiative is a bold statement and one that will help clients achieve their carbon targets.

“Until there is sufficient technology to fully replace fossil fuel motoring, carbon offset or balanced motoring is a sensible option.

“This is a fantastic scheme and we are proud to be the UK’s first to offer it on a wide range of vehicles.”

Source: Aug 4, 2009 – http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/business/Car-firm39s-bosses-take-green.5520957.jp

Photos from Ethiopia by USAID's Jay Graham

August 3, 2009 · 0 comments

graham-iapJay Graham is a member of USAID’s Environmental Health Team and was recently on an assignment in Ethiopia. He posted indoor air pollution and sanitation/hygiene photos from the assignment on a Picasa website.

If you have information to share about your organization’s work on indoor air pollution issues, contact Jay Graham at jgraham@usaid.gov.

Home exposure to Arabian incense (bakhour) and asthma symptoms in children

August 3, 2009 · 2 comments

BMC Pulm Med. 2009 May 19;9:23.

Home exposure to Arabian incense (bakhour) and asthma symptoms in children: a community survey in two regions in Oman.

Al-Rawas OA, Al-Maniri AA, Al-Riyami BM.

Department of Medicine, College of Medicine and Health Science, Sultan Qaboos University, PO Box 35, Postal Code 123, Muscat, Sultanate of Oman. orawas@squ.edu.om

BACKGROUND: Incense burning has been reported to adversely affect respiratory health. The aim of this study was to explore whether exposure to bakhour contributes to the prevalence of asthma and/or triggers its symptoms in Omani children by comparing two Omani regions with different prevalence of asthma.

METHODS: A randomly selected sample of 10 years old schoolchildren were surveyed using an Arabic version of ISAAC Phase II questionnaires with the addition of questions concerning the use and effect of Arabian incense on asthma symptoms. Current asthma was defined as positive response to wheeze in the past 12 months or positive response to “ever had asthma” together with a positive response to exercise wheeze or night cough in the past 12 months. Simple and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to estimate the effect of bakhour exposure and other variables on current asthma diagnosis and parents’ response to the question: “Does exposure to bakhour affect your child breathing?”

RESULTS: Of the 2441 surveyed children, 15.4% had current asthma. Bakhour use more than twice a week was three times more likely to affect child breathing compared to no bakhour use (adjusted OR 3.01; 95% CI 2.23-4.08) and this effect was 2.55 times higher in asthmatics (adjusted OR 2.55; 95% CI 1.97-3.31) compared to non-asthmatics. In addition, bakhour caused worsening of wheeze in 38% of the asthmatics, making it the fourth most common trigger factor after dust (49.2%), weather (47.6%) and respiratory tract infections (42.2%). However, there was no significant association between bakhour use and the prevalence of current asthma (adjusted OR 0.87; 95% CI 0.63-1.20).

CONCLUSION: Arabian incense burning is a common trigger of wheezing among asthmatic children in Oman. However, it is not associated with the prevalence asthma.

Envirofit, July 2009 training video on YouTube

July 31, 2009 · 0 comments

Envirofit G-3300 cookstove. Includes sections on unpacking and assembling the stove, cooking with the stove, and maintenance. Also provides safety tips, etc.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfTdacwNLUM&hl=en&fs=1&]

Sri Lanka – 25 years of energy management

July 30, 2009 · 0 comments

Twenty five years of energy management in Sri Lanka
By Dr. Tilak Siyambalapitiya, Sri Lanka Energy Managers Association

The second oil crisis of 1979 had just ended when the Government of Sri Lanka decided in 1982 to place energy efficiency and demand management as the top priority, with the energy ministry functioning directly under the President. By 1983, burdened with a severe drought requiring more thermal power generation as well, Sri Lanka spent 45% of her export earnings to buy oil, and the situation was getting worse. Thanks to the Mahaweli power plants, moderate weather, moderate oil prices and fast growth of the economy, Sri Lanka never had to spend such a large share of her income to buy oil. The more recent peak was in 2008, when the country spent about 35% of the export income on oil.

There has always been a clear need to improve energy efficiency, manage the demand, and in general, “do with a lower amount of electricity and oil”. Energy use in households is in the form of biomass (firewood) or LPG for cooking, and kerosene or electricity for lighting. The efficiency of using the traditional three-brick open hearth is only 10%. This means, 90% of energy in a stick of firewood is lost, when burnt in the open. A semi-enclosed clay stove would increase this efficiency to 25%, thus reducing the firewood use in the household to 40%. The efficiency can be further improved if the clay stove is permanently fixed at the fireplace, with additional clay around the stove to contain the heat. More recent improvements include the stove for household use developed by the National Engineering Research and Development Centre (NERD), which uses wood chips and has the best ever efficiency. The government promoted the enclosed stoves in the 1980s by providing stoves at a subsidised price, and at the peak of the program, had provided 10% of the households with an efficient stove. Many others including the Intermediate Technology Development Group and the Sarvodaya Movement joined the effort.

Energy use in lighting required a different approach. By year 1985, only 18% of households had electricity, and now by 2009, the connected households exceed 82%, while the government is working on a target of 95% to be reached within the next few years. The target appears to be well within reach, provided adequate funds are made available because when the network goes further and further deep into thinly populated areas, the cost of the network per household keeps increasing. Lighting in households, especially the newly connected ones and those in the low and middle income groups is with the conventional incandescent lamps, which converts only 5% of electricity to light and the balance is wasted as heat. A campaign to popularise compact fluorescent lamps was spearheaded by Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) and Lanka Electricity Company (LECO) in the mid-1990s. Although the incentive program has now come to an end by, CFLs are so popular and widely used, but much needs to be done to improve and standardise the quality of CFLs entering market.

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Envirofit International and Colorado State University Receive International Design Award

July 30, 2009 · 0 comments

envirofit-stoveFORT COLLINS, July 30, 2009 – The cookstove design and development teams at Envirofit International and the Engines and Energy Conversion Lab at Colorado State University have won a Bronze IDEA for Envirofit’s clean cookstove in the Ecodesign category in the 2009 International Design Excellence Awards. The Bronze International Design Excellence Award is shared with the industrial design groups Red Ingot LLC and Sector 7 Studios, LLC.

The winners of the 2009 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEA) competition—a celebration of year’s most innovative and exciting product designs and one of the world’s most prestigious and recognizable design competitions—exhibit a focus on sustainability, functionality and, in some cases, breathtaking aesthetics. The Envirofit S-2100 clean cookstove is an example of a recent trend of the IDEA award and its sponsors, BusinessWeek, the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA), Target and Autodesk, toward honoring products designed for underserved or underprivileged markets.

The four co-founders of Envirofit all have ties to Colorado State University: Bryan Willson, director of the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory and mechanical engineering professor; Paul Hudnut, professor in the College of Business; and Tim Bauer and Nathan Lorenz, now Envirofit’s Vice President of Operations and Vice President of Engineering, respectively, who used to be graduate students at the engines lab. Willson started the cookstoves program at the university. The Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory serves as a R&D subcontractor to Envirofit which, with global partner the Shell Foundation, aims to design, build and disseminate millions of cookstoves to emerging markets in the coming years.

Envirofit cookstoves are sold to consumers in India and other emerging markets to address the global health and environmental impacts of Indoor Air Pollution. Unlike most groups designing cookstoves for developing world markets, Envirofit and its partners develop stoves that not only dramatically reduce toxic emissions and biomass fuel use, but also take the stoves’ aesthetics and ergonomics into consideration.

“Historically, emerging market consumers have not been viewed as a valued consumer group. But just because a family only makes a few dollars a day doesn’t mean they don’t want and deserve a beautiful, durable product they can be proud of,” said Ron Bills, Chairman and CEO of Envirofit International. “Envirofit and its partners are pleased that the international design community is recognizing the importance of creating high-quality, aesthetic products for emerging market consumers.”

Source – http://www.news.colostate.edu/Release/4718

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