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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p>Here’s a report on an interesting study that Nikhil found on the Environmental Research Web. The model projects a positive health impact from a marginal intervention with improved stoves, which is probably an accurate reflection of what stovers see as a result of their efforts: better stoves improve health. While Nikhil has bashed this modeling for its precision, the trend would likely be the same for alternative models. We can always find better metrics to support our work, or to find fatal flaws, but let’s do it working together in positive collaboration without the trash talk that we’ve been hearing for several months. This forum is not a complaint desk or a political blog. <o:p></o:p></p><p><a href="http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/68742">http://environmentalresearchweb.org/cws/article/news/68742</a> <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>May 11, 2017<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:24.0pt'>Cleaner cookstoves might benefit Mozambicans <o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p>By John Cartwright<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><a href="http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa5557">Cleaner cookstoves could improve air quality and health, and reduce temperature rise from climate change in Mozambique</a>, according to a study by researchers in the US.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>The findings reinforce the health dangers of cooking with rudimentary fires or cookstoves in one of the world’s poorest countries, but the researchers point out that there is no local information to reach inhabitants. "Local information about pollution exposure levels in Mozambique is sorely needed to ground-truth [our] estimates," said <a href="http://publichealth.gwu.edu/departments/environmental-and-occupational-health/susan-anenberg">Susan Anenberg of Environmental Health Analytics and the George Washington University</a>, US. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Mozambique is thought to be highly vulnerable to the kind of extreme weather events produced by climate change, and the country also experiences high rates of morbidity and mortality from household air pollution. In rural areas, households typically use open fires or rudimentary biomass stoves, while in urban areas metal charcoal stoves are more common. Fine particulate matter and other pollution generated by this type of inefficient burning are known to be highly dangerous, with one previous study linking household pollution in Mozambique in 2015 to 18,000 premature deaths. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>More efficient options are available: natural- or forced-draft stoves in rural areas, or modern charcoal stoves for urban environments. In addition there are gas stoves, which are inherently cleaner than those running on charcoal. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Anenberg and colleagues wanted to find out how beneficial these alternatives would be to Mozambicans. Having identified clean cookstoves that could find success in Mozambique, they estimated air-pollution exposure levels based on estimates for other parts of Africa. These estimates went into an atmospheric model and a health and climate-impact model to make a new estimate of the possible societal benefits, focusing in particular on deaths arising from stroke, heart disease, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and lower respiratory infections. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>The researchers found that if just 10% of rural households in Mozambique got a natural-draft stove, the country could expect 200 fewer deaths related to fine particulate matter over three years; if the same households got forced-draft stoves, there could be 500 fewer deaths. Meanwhile, if 10% of households in five of Mozambique’s major cities got a gas stove, there could be 160 fewer premature deaths; modern charcoal stoves would obtain 80% of this benefit. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>As for climate change, the researchers found that any of the better stove scenarios would reduce the contribution to temperature rise from cookstoves by 4–6% over the next century. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>"We found that each type of cleaner cookstove examined led to improvements in air quality, avoided health impacts from air pollution, and less climate change-related temperature rise," said Anenberg. "The cleanest stoves were more health beneficial, but nearly all were cost-effective." <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>The researchers are now investigating the use of solid fuels for heating. "Burning solid fuels for heating degrades air quality and contributes to climate change, particularly in cold areas where the pollution gets transported to snow and ice covered regions and reduces the reflectivity of the planet," said Anenberg. "We are trying to determine the extent of solid fuel heating around the world, which types of fuels are commonly used in different places, and the impacts this practice has on public health and the environment." <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><b><span style='font-size:13.5pt'>About the author<o:p></o:p></span></b></p><p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'>Jon Cartwright is a contributing editor to <i>environmentalresearchweb</i><o:p></o:p></p><p><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>