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Cooking stoves rise up the global agenda

Contributed by Grant Ballard-Tremeer
Added: 25 June 2009

Cooking stoves, Indoor Air Pollution and the link to Climate Change are rising up the global agenda as three recent developments show: a speech from Al Gore, the US Climate Change Bill, and a NY Times front-page article.

Cooking stoves, Indoor Air Pollution and the link to Climate Change are rising up the global agenda as three recent developments show: a speech from Al Gore, the US Climate Change Bill, and a NY Times front-page article. Excerpts follow:

1. Al Gore speech

"Across south Asia people burn fuel such as dung, crop waste and wood in millions of small stoves that produce soot, or black carbon, that builds up during the dry season above the Himalayas and settles on the ice and snow. That cuts the ability for the snow to reflect the sun's rays back into the atmosphere and may add to melting of the region's glaciers.

If China and India and other countries in the region mandated the use of stoves that produce less soot, it would be an example of how rich and poor countries can cooperate on climate change, Gore said."

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/8541536

2. Bill going through US Congress

Waxman-Markey Draft Climate Change Bill, pages 524/5

(2) OTHER OPPORTUNITIES.

The report required under paragraph (1) shall also identify opportunities and recommendations, including action under existing authorities, to achieve significant black carbon emission reductions in foreign countries through technical assistance or other approaches to.

(A) promote sustainable solutions to bring clean, efficient, safe, and affordable stoves, fuels, or both stoves and fuels to resi15 dents of developing countries that are reliant on solid fuels such as wood, dung, charcoal, coal,or crop residues for home cooking and heating, so as to help reduce the public health, environmental, and economic impacts of black carbon emissions from these sources by.

(i) identifying key regions for large-scale demonstration efforts, and key partners in each such region; and

(ii) developing for each such region a large-scale implementation strategy with an goal of collectively reaching 20,000,000 homes over 5 years with interventions that will.

(I) increase stove efficiency by over 50 percent (or such other goal as determined by the Administrator);

(II) reduce emissions of black carbon by over 60 percent (or such other goal as determined by the Administrator); and

(III) reduce the incidence of severe pneumonia in children under 5 years old by over 30 percent (or such other goal as determined by the Administrator);

(B) make technological improvements to diesel engines and provide greater access to fuels that emit less or no black carbon;

(C) reduce unnecessary agricultural or other biomass burning where feasible alternatives exist;

(D) reduce unnecessary fossil fuel burning that produces black carbon where feasible alternatives exist;

(E) reduce other sources of black carbon emissions; and

(F) improve capacity to achieve greater compliance with existing laws to address black carbon emissions.

NY Times article on black carbon, stoves and climate change

HEDON has reported on this here and it has been discussed in the CleanAirSIG here: CleanAirSIG: Third-World Stove Soot Is Target In Climate Fight



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