New Publications: Health and Environmental Impacts of Stove Performance and Level of Use
High performing technologies and fuels are a central part of the Alliance’s mission. At the same time we are aiming for technology that is fully integrated into household activities, displacing traditional stoves and open fires. A paper published in March in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives supports the Alliance’s focus on high stove and fuel performance and maximizing adoption.
This new paper demonstrates how health and environmental impacts depend on both stove performance and usage. The quantitative framework, which integrates stove and fuel usage with the ISO IWA Tiers of Performance, reinforces the long-term objective of the clean cooking sector – that maximum health and environmental benefits are achieved with a high performing stove and/or fuel, a high level of use, and complete displacement of open fires and traditional stoves.
The paper also provides guidelines for selecting the best possible technology performance and usage combination, as we move toward our longer term goal, to achieve moderate health and environment benefits. The results also show that usage of three-stone-fires and basic charcoal stoves must be nearly eliminated to reach WHO air quality guidelines. This finding aligns with the Alliance’s focus on activities to minimize use of traditional stoves and fuels, including raising consumer awareness, behavior change communication, and selecting technologies that meet household needs.
In a related paper in the Journal of Health Communication’s Special Issue on Advancing Communication and Behavior Change Strategies for Cleaner Cooking, the relevance for behavior change communication is discussed The abstract is available at this link: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10810730.2014.996305#abstract