[Stoves] Another review paper: Impact of household air pollution on human health

[Nikhil Desai]

Ron, list:

Since we are reviewing the reviews, I suggest this Review Paper: Impact of
household air pollution on human health: Source identification and
systematic management approach.
<https://www.academia.edu/40842770/Impact_of_household_air_pollution_USM_affliation_?>
(Springer Nature Applied Sciences April 2019; the link is at academia.edu.)

This paper traverses back from Kirk Smith definition of HAP - PM2.5 from
solid fuels, no matter that for his DALY computations he did not have an
iota worth of recorded evidence on emissions, exposures, or diseases - to
what used to be called IAP - Indoor Air Pollution.

To borrow from Kirk Smith et al (2000) AREE paper, "The policy implications
of definitions are profound."

Kirk Smith assumed solid fuels to be dirty by definition, and
LPG/gas/electricity clean by definition. A lucrative advocacy for "clean
cooking" followed, not that any was needed. Energy policy practitioners
know what the problem is what the solutions are; aDALY quantifications are
poppycock and "no stacking" vigilantism is not cost-effective.

For you and other designers/promoters of contextual biomass technologies,
the policy implications of redefining HAP as what used to be called IAP are
in this paper's conclusion: "To improve their health,as well as the whole
household environment, it is necessary to reduce the sources of HAP while
also alleviating its adverse health effects. Although household pollutants
are quite complex and vary widely in their concentrations,HAP is a
modifiable risk factor with known management strategies that can be used to
lessen its effects on the environment and human health. However, successful
management strategies require robust information pertaining to the problem,
and this information must be generated from diverse settings."

The paper is "academic" in the pejorative sense I have been using. Still,
it is refreshing that the authors bring up the topic of "known management
strategies".

Yes, last 50 years of professional practice - check out AWMA, for example -
has taught us how to do air quality management. Neither fuel bans nor magic
stoves are a universal answer. But if we define our problem as
"contribution to air pollution exposure control," we would shed the WBT
protocols and ISO silliness, and seek to collaborate with practitioners of
the art of air quality management.

Yes, commercial char ovens are a promising idea when the land and feedstock
are available at low cost and a bankable business proposal can be made.
Please give us some insight and help in that direction.

N

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Nikhil Desai
(US +1) 202 568 5831
*Skype: nikhildesai888*
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