[Stoves] News: National Geographic on promotion of gas stoves over improved woodstoves - in Guatemala

[Nikhil Desai]

A nice piece of "Crisis Reporting", after WHO declared solid fuels use as a
global crisis. NatGeo will go much farther in moving minds than GBD and
HAPIT.

This story is really about "stacking" and dose-response mechanisms.

"Their efficient woodstove, a knee-high concrete cylinder donated by an aid
group called StoveTeam International, is too small to support the tamale
pot. So, as she does about once a month, Perez has fired up the old
wood-burning stove, a crumbling, chimney-less brick ruin whose smoke pours
directly into the unventilated kitchen. Everyone notices the smoke, but
it’s a familiar annoyance—and compared with the daily challenge of
affording food and fuel, it’s a minor one."


So what does the UC-Berkeley research do - instead of putting the focus on
"efficient woodstove" being only one type and size, going wild that "the
indoor air pollution was still far above guidelines set by the World Health
Organization."

Not the general guidelines but the particular guidelines for Household Fuel
Combustion, influenced heavily by the Reviews and blessings of UC-Berkeley
team in the first place. As part of the war against solid fuels, which they
(and WHO) DEFINE to be "dirty".

There is the usual reciting of globalization mantras:

"Wood-burning household fires and inefficient stoves cause broader
suffering, too. The firewood trade promotes deforestation and also provides
cover for timber smuggling, since wood from rare trees can be hidden among
logs from more common species. The smoke from cook fires pollutes the air
outdoors as well as indoors, especially in cities. And as a major source of
black carbon—a sunlight-absorbing pollutant—the world’s billions of
household fires are also thought to be accelerating the effects of climate
change, speeding the disruption of monsoon cycles and the melting of
glaciers."


But the GACC CEO's frankness is admirable -

"Muthiah and other stove experts emphasize that there is no single ideal
stove or ideal fuel, as every household, every community, and every culture
has different needs and priorities: a stove designed for rural Guatemala
may well be completely impractical in Nairobi."


If so, why bother with ISO "international standards" exercise?

I for one don't think an international research team is warranted to "determine
whether the use of gas stoves improves air quality and the health of
children." Of course it does that and much else. It is the precise
quantification, and its applicability in quantitative forecasting, that I
find to be morally repugnant and waste of public money in creating
unproductive research jobs.


"Thompson and a network of collaborators are now expanding this research to
India, Peru, and Rwanda, studying how gas-stove adoption—and associated
improvements in household air quality—affects the health of mothers and
children."


Next -- HAPIT for cats? (I loved this attached picture).

N

*Three Billion People Cook Over Open Fires With Deadly Consequences
<http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/proof/2017/07/guatemala-cook-stoves/>*:
In
Guatemala, locally made cookstoves are helping combat toxic smoke—but
economics and tradition keep many people from using them. By Michelle
Nijhuis, August 14, 2017. National Geographic
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