How To Save Lives and Lower Fuel Consumption: Clean Cookstoves
Exposure to smoke from traditional cookstoves and open fires – the primary means of cooking and heating for nearly 3 billion people in the developing world – causes 2 million premature deaths annually, with women and children the most affected.
Reliance on biomass for cooking and heating means that women and children spend many hours during the week collecting fuel. This increases their personal security risks and creates opportunity costs. Cookstoves also increase pressures on local natural resources (e.g., forests, habitat) and contribute to climate change globally.The use of clean cookstoves and fuels can dramatically reduce fuel consumption and exposure to cookstove smoke.