When it comes to “clean cookstoves,” to paraphrase a former US president, “it depends what your definition of the word “clean” is…
Black Carbon
Cancun and what it means for clean cookstoves, briquettes, and other appropriate sustainable energy technologies
Today marks the opening of the Cancun talks on Climate Change. They are a follow-up to last year’s Copenhagen discussion which, as everyone knows, did not yield the expected global agreement to effectively reduce greenhouse gases. A review of media coverage leading up to the Cancun event downplays expectations for any significant breakthroughs during this round. And if nothing substantive comes out of this week-long meeting, it will mark another nail in the coffin of the UN’s attempt to establish a globally binding agreement à la Kyoto Protocol. The outlook is not improved by the outcome of the US mid-term Continue reading
IPCC to feature role of Black Carbon in next report
Speaking Tuesday at a briefing on Capitol Hill, EPA officials said that “black carbon” (BC), an important factor in global warming and major by-product of solid biomass fuel and dirty diesel emissions, would figure prominently in a International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report due out next year. BC emissions can also seriously affect the health of residents in households that depend on burning wood, charcoal, animal dung, and agricultural residues for home cooking and heating. Another scientific paper due out early next year is likely to cast much needed light on the role of BC on global warming. The Continue reading
PAPER: Under ideal conditions, burning biomass is GHG neutral.
“If biomass is harvested in a sustainable way so that its long-term stocks are not depleted, and (it is) burned under ideal combustion conditions, it is effectively GHG (Greenhouse Gas) neutral.” from “Greenhouse Gas Implications of Household Energy Technology in Kenya.” American Chemical Society/Environmental Science & Technology. (2003) Authors: Rob Bailis, Majid Ezzati, and Daniel M. Kammen. The statement above would be music to the ears of solid biomass booster the world over were it not for one tiny, almost insignificant word: ideal. The lead-in to the full statement goes: “Under optimal conditions, biomass combustion results almost entirely in the Continue reading
“Stop throwing stoves at black carbon”
A Yale University workshop says improved cookstoves may not be the best solution to reducing the global warming effect of black carbon.