[Stoves] Ancient (2006) World Bank research: Ventilate!! (Re: Anand Karve)

[Traveller]

Abstract of a World Bank research paper below, with my underline for
emphasis.

In the days Before Chicanery (BC), ventilation was seen as a cheap option
to reduce exposure to (well, whatever).  Six years After Deliverance (AD),
some donor disagree (as Dr. Karve informed us).

Whoever got the idea that ventilation was just putting pollution out? Must
have been working in an office with efficient HVAC systems and windows that
couldn't be opened.

If the outside air is quality is within, ahem, WHO Ambient Air Quality
"guidelines" - whatever they are worth to poor countries' governments -
shouldn't there be some site-specific modeling to forecast air quality with
use of stove chimneys?

Not that donors finance any rural housing construction.  People have found
means to ventilate for milliennia, I suppose, and they will continue to do
so.

God, Save me from my saviors <http://imgur.com/gallery/QjQk8>.

Whose reputations are being held holy? Don't donors worry about being
laughed at with "no ventilation" mania?

"Clean Cookstoves". Without ventilation. An effective strategy to kill
people. (Check engineering in Nazi Germany.)

Nikhil
-----------

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17100664

Indoor Air. <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17100664#> 2006
Dec;16(6):426-44.
Indoor air quality for poor families: new evidence from Bangladesh.
Dasgupta S
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Dasgupta%20S%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=17100664>
1, Huq M
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Huq%20M%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=17100664>
, Khaliquzzaman M
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Khaliquzzaman%20M%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=17100664>
, Pandey K
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Pandey%20K%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=17100664>
, Wheeler D
<http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=Wheeler%20D%5BAuthor%5D&cauthor=true&cauthor_uid=17100664>
.
Author information <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17100664#>

   - 1Development Research Group, World Bank, Washington, DC 20433, USA.
   sdasgupta at worldbank.org

Abstract

Poor households in Bangladesh depend heavily on wood, dung and other
biomass fuels for cooking. This paper provides a detailed analysis of the
implications for indoor air pollution (IAP), drawing on new 24-h monitoring
data for respirable airborne particulates (PM10). A stratified sample of
236 households was selected in Dhaka and Narayanganj, with a particular
focus on fuel use, cooking locations, structural materials, ventilation
practices, and other potential determinants of exposure to IAP. At each
household, PM10 concentrations in the kitchen and living room were
monitored for a 24-h period during December, 2003-February, 2004.

Concentrations of 300 microg/m3 or greater are common in our sample,
implying widespread exposure to a serious health hazard. A regression
analysis for these 236 households was then conducted to explore the
relationships between PM10 concentrations, fuel choices and a large set of
variables that describe household cooking and ventilation practices,
structure characteristics and building materials.

As expected, our econometric results indicate that fuel choice
significantly affects indoor pollution levels: natural gas and kerosene are
significantly cleaner than biomass fuels. However, household-specific
factors apparently matter more than fuel choice in determining PM10
concentrations. In some biomass-burning households, concentrations are
scarcely higher than in households that use natural gas. Our results
suggest that *cross-household variation is strongly affected by structural
arrangements: cooking locations, construction materials, and ventilation
practices. *

A large variation in PM10 was also found during the 24-h cycle within
households. For example, within the 'dirtiest' firewood-using household in
our sample, readings over the 24-h cycle vary from 68 to 4864 microg/m3.
Such variation occurs because houses can recycle air very quickly in
Bangladesh. After the midday meal, when ventilation is common, air quality
in many houses goes from very dirty to reasonably clean within an hour.
Rapid change also occurs within households: d*iffusion of pollution from
kitchens to living areas is nearly instantaneous in many cases, regardless
of internal space configuration, and living-area concentrations are almost
always in the same range as kitchen concentrations. *

By implication, exposure to dangerous indoor pollution levels is not
confined to cooking areas. To assess the broader implications for poor
Bangladeshi households, we extrapolate our regression results to
representative 600 household samples from rural, peri-urban and urban areas
in six regions: Rangpur in the north-west, Sylhet in the north-east,
Rajshahi and Jessore in the west, Faridpur in the center, and Cox's Bazar
in the south-east. Our results indicate great geographic variation, even
for households in the same per capita income group. This variation reflects
local differences in fuel use and, more significantly, construction
practices that affect ventilation. For households with per capita income
<US Dollars 1.00/day, rural PM10 concentrations vary from 410 microg/m3 in
Cox's Bazar to 202 microg/m3 in Faridpur. In urban areas, concentrations
for such households differ by almost 100 microg/m3 between the highest
areas, Jessore and Rajshahi, and the lowest, Sylhet.

*Practical Implications* *Our analysis suggests that poor families may not
have to wait for clean fuels or clean stoves to enjoy significantly cleaner
air. Within our sample household population, some arrangements are already
producing relatively clean conditions, even when 'dirty' biomass fuels are
used, such as simple changes in ventilation characteristics of housing
(construction materials, space configurations, cooking locations and
placement of doors and windows) and ventilation behavior (keeping doors and
windows open after cooking). As these arrangements are already within the
means of poor families, the scope for cost-effective improvements may be
larger than is commonly believed*.
PMID: 17100664 <http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17100664> DOI:
10.1111/j.1600-0668.2006.00436.x
<http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0668.2006.00436.x>
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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