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
Funding
GACC yields 980K for clean cookstove implementation in Kenya, Guatemala, India
The Centers for Disease Control gets in on the GACC action. Public Health Institute Award to Advance Clean Cookstove Technology OAKLAND, Calif., Oct. 19 (AScribe Newswire) — The Public Health Institute (PHI) received notification it has been awarded a major grant from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) focused on implementing clean cookstove technology. The $980,000 award will support planning and field work for the next year on cookstoves in Kenya, Guatemala and India, as well as joining the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves, the National Institutes of Health and CDC in planning a global clean cookstoves workshop. The Continue reading
Goal Looms for U.N.: Ending ‘Energy Poverty’
taken from Green, a NYT blog about energy and the environment By Elisabeth Rosenthal New York – Oct. 4th, 2010 — The United Nations Millennium Development Goals were adopted in 2000 as a commitment to improve health and education as well as end poverty in less fortunate parts of the globe. The eight goals include targets like universal childhood education, reducing infant mortality and ensuring environmental sustainability. This year there has been a growing movement to add a ninth goal: ending energy poverty. Some 1.4 billion people lack access to electricity. Energy experts like Nobuo Tanaka, executive director of the Continue reading
Clean-Burning Cookstoves for Developing Countries
Source: The New York Times, published Sept 28, 2010 To the Editor: Re “Developing Nations to Get Clean-Burning Cookstoves” (news article, Sept. 21): It is great news that the United States will provide $50 million to help provide clean-burning cookstoves for villages in Asia, Africa and South America. In addition to the appalling health risks (1.9 million deaths a year due to inhaling smoke from open fires) and the environmental devastation caused by cutting down trees for fuel, women and girls risk rape and sexual violence when they gather wood to cook or sell. This is particularly true in refugee camps Continue reading
News compilation of today’s annoucement by Sec. Clinton
Today’s announcement by Sec. Hilary Clinton and the ensuing coverage is undoubtedly a landmark for the improved cookstove community and all those who have sought to address the risks posed by indoor air pollution around the world. For the people who have toiled in obscurity for decades trying to improve the stoves, for those who have lobbied to draw attention and financial support to the issue, and for those who are hard at work around the world today implementing cook stove programs, today is a very special day, and hopefully the beginning of larger sustained global effort. So, congratulations to Continue reading