Being poor condemns half of humanity to dependence on polluting, household energy practices. —World Health Organization (2006)
The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 1.5 million people die each year from indoor air pollution (IAP). Most (90%) of these deaths occur in the developing regions of Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Western Pacific, where the majority cook with traditional fuels and use traditional stoves.
Exposure to IAP increases the risk of Acute Lower Respiratory Infections (ALRI) in children, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) in adults. There are links between IAP and tuberculosis (TB), perinatal mortality (stillbirths and deaths in the first week of life), low birth weight, asthma, otitis media, cancer of the upper airway, and cataracts.
Indoor air pollution is responsible nearly 800,000 deaths in children under five and about 2.7% of all illness (globally). Women are at greatest risk from the health impacts of IAP since they do most of the cooking and are therefore exposed to high levels of pollution from burning biofuels for extended periods every day
• Indoor air pollution (IAP) is a serious environmental health problem in developing countries and is primarily caused by smoke from low grade fuels burnt using inefficient stoves.
• When biomass fuels burn, they burn incompletely, releasing soot or smoke and gaseous emissions into the air.
• These emissions often contain many pollutants that are dangerous to health such as small particles, carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide, butadiene, formaldehyde, and carcinogens such as benzopryrene and benzene.
• One of the most dangerous pollutants emitted by burning biomass is PM (particulate matter), small particles which penetrate far into the respiratory system and cause fatal respiratory problems.
• Kerosene stoves often create dangerous, sometimes carcinogenic, indoor air pollutants. This is exacerbated by the fact that the kerosene fuel itself is often dirty and poorly refined.
• Open biomass fires result in many accidental burns and house fires.
In Africa, where roughly 25% of indoor air pollution deaths occur, about 60% of the continent depends on traditional biomass (fuelwood and dung) to meet its energy needs; in Sub-Saharan Africa this percentage soars to about 95%. Most of the energy demand stems from cooking, where the smoke and emissions created by the burning of traditional biomass and kerosene—which may be 20 to 100 times higher than the WHO’s recommended guidelines for exposure to indoor air pollutants—take a heavy toll on the family’s health.
• Hydrocarbon fuels (gasoline, kerosene, diesel, propane, butane, LPG) ignite at low temperatures and concentrations in air and release enormous amounts of reflected heat during combustion.
• When fires break out, the intensity of the flame makes it difficult to approach the fire to put it out. This is true for both hydrocarbon and biomass fires. Water spreads a hydrocarbon fire rather than extinguishing it.
• Because hydrocarbon vapors are dense, they can accumulate at floor level, where lit stoves are often located.
• LPG (propane and/or butane) stoves hold their gaseous fuel under pressure. A leak frequently results in an explosion.
• Kerosene today is a volatile fuel, like jet fuel. When a kerosene stove overheats, it can pressurize and explode. Kerosene stoves often tip over and spill their liquid fuel, causing burns and house fires.
• Water spreads a hydrocarbon fire rather than extinguishing it.
• Petroleum fuels contain benzene, which is considered extremely toxic and carcinogenic. Petroleum fuels are fatty and mask their taste when imbibed. Every year, tens of thousands of children accidentally drink kerosene in South Africa where it is widely used as a cooking fuel.
• Much of the wood burned for fuel is not harvested sustainably, resulting deforestation and even desertification.
• High carbon dioxide emissions resulting from the burning of hydrocarbon fuels, coal, charcoal and even dung, contribute to the accumulation of greenhouse gases (GHG).
• In addition to smoke and soot, combustion of kerosene and biomass produce benzene, butadiene, formaldehyde, CO2, CO, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) and dioxins.
• Hydrocarbon fuels degrade slowly.
• These fuels are acutely toxic to aquatic life. They are oily and float on water when spilled, coating birds and sea mammals.
• It is women and older children who are, in most cases and most locations, typically responsible for collecting fuelwood.
• Worldwide, it is estimated that individual women carry loads of wood up to 35 kg in weight over distances from as far as 10 km from home.
• The impact of this work on women’s health is severe, with heavy burdens damaging their spines and affecting child bearing.
• Moreover, the dangers faced by women, including attack from wild animals, assault or rape and injury in hazardous terrain, combine to make the task of firewood collection particularly perilous. This is particularly true in conflict situations.
• Time spent collecting firewood means that less time is available for other activities such as income generation. Young girls are often forced to leave school or miss classes to assist their mothers in gathering fire wood.
Problems associated with dependence on traditional cooking fuels are widespread. They affect health, environmental, social, and gender issues. Any solution to such a complex set of problems must be simple, accessible, and sustainable while addressing all these overlapping issues.
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