Models to Predict Emissions of Health-Damaging Pollutants and Global Warming Contributions of Residential Fuel and Stove Combinations in China
Residential energy use in developing countries has traditionally been associated with combustion devices of poor
energy efficiency, which have been shown to produce substantial health-damaging pollution, contributing significantly
to the global burden of disease, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Precision of these estimates in China has been
hampered by limited data on stove use and fuel consumption in residences. In addition limited information is available
on variability of emissions of pollutants from different stove/fuel combinations in typical use, as measurement of
emission factors requires measurement of multiple chemical species in complex burn cycle tests. Such measurements are
too costly and time consuming for application in conjunction with national surveys. Emissions of most of the major
health-damaging pollutants (HDP) and many of the gases that contribute to GHG emissions from cooking stoves are
the result of the significant portion of fuel carbon that is diverted to products of incomplete combustion (PIC) as a
result of poor combustion efficiencies.