More than half the world’s population uses open fires or stoves for cooking and heating, breathing in lethal fumes inside their homes on a daily basis.
According to reports, lower levels of income group use fuel that is cheap and locally available but not very clean nor efficient. Over 3 billion people worldwide are at these lower rungs, depending on biomass fuels—crop waste, wood, leaves, etc.—and coal to meet their energy needs according to WHO. Asia and Africa are the nations where the use of such fuel is to be seen the most: 95% of the population in Afghanistan uses these fuels, 95% in Chad, 87% in Ghana, 82% in India, 80% in China, and so forth.
This causes 1.5 million premature deaths each year, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) calculations. In developing countries, this makes Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) the most lethal killer after malaria, unsafe sex and lack of clean water or sanitation – yet, in comparison, this issue has a very low profile.
For the foreseeable future billions of people will continue to use wood, cowdung and crop leftovers as their main fuel. Therefore it is essential that efforts to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution be directed at the reality people face now. Smoke will continue to be produced, so it needs to be removed from the house.
Simple changes in the way the cook behaves can reduce exposure to smoke. For example, making sure that fuel wood is dry cuts emissions. The use of a pot lid can reduce the fuel consumed during simmering by a factor of three and overall emission levels by almost a half.
What can make a big difference is to ensure that the wood or cow dung or crop residue being used is dry. Damp biomass tends to smoke more and firewood must be dry for efficient burning.
1. Firewood must be dry when used for lighting a fire as damp wood when burnt releases unclean smoke and covers the walls with soot. The water content of wood must be between 15-20% only. If there is more water than that the stove does not burn the wood effectively or efficiently.
2. The stove must be heated quickly with sufficient kindling as this raises the temperature within the stove leading to clean combustion. The correct lighting of fire also ensures that the stove reaches a good working temperature quickly.
3. Logs that are too large must not be used for burning as there must be air between the wood and the walls of the oven proper burning.
4. There must not be too much firewood as this hampers proper combustion. When wood is heated it gives out gasses, which requires air to be burnt and add to the flame in your stove. If there is too much firewood in the stove it hinders the optimal air supply.
5. Firewood is best bought early and is most effective when stored properly. Wood requires time to dry and it takes about two years for wood after it has been cut to dry correctly. Since smaller pieces of wood dry faster than larger ones, wood must be stored after it is chopped in the appropriate size for your stove. Wood must be stored in a place with air and sun where it is protected from rain.
6. Avoid covering the wood with plastic as this does not let the wood dry by keeping the humidity within. Also, it is not advisable to store wood indoors as there is a risk that the wood may rot due to insufficient ventilation.
Shell Foundation’s “My Kitchen, My Pride” campaign of 2008-09 was aimed at spreading awareness about the benefits and the necessity of keep wood dry as well as other ways to limit kitchen smoke.
The campaign was meant to raise awareness about the dangers from kitchen smoke, including pneumonia, respiratory diseases, cataracts, among others and guide them in making small changes to reduce kitchen smoke rather than ignoring the dangers of smoke in the kitchen.
According to reports, lower levels of income group use fuel that is cheap and locally available but not very clean nor efficient. Over 3 billion people worldwide are at these lower rungs, depending on biomass fuels—crop waste, wood, leaves, etc.—and coal to meet their energy needs according to WHO. Asia and Africa are the nations where the use of such fuel is to be seen the most: 95% of the population in Afghanistan uses these fuels, 95% in Chad, 87% in Ghana, 82% in India, 80% in China, and so forth.
This causes 1.5 million premature deaths each year, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) calculations. In developing countries, this makes Indoor Air Pollution (IAP) the most lethal killer after malaria, unsafe sex and lack of clean water or sanitation – yet, in comparison, this issue has a very low profile.
For the foreseeable future billions of people will continue to use wood, cowdung and crop leftovers as their main fuel. Therefore it is essential that efforts to reduce exposure to indoor air pollution be directed at the reality people face now. Smoke will continue to be produced, so it needs to be removed from the house.
Simple changes in the way the cook behaves can reduce exposure to smoke. For example, making sure that fuel wood is dry cuts emissions. The use of a pot lid can reduce the fuel consumed during simmering by a factor of three and overall emission levels by almost a half.
What can make a big difference is to ensure that the wood or cow dung or crop residue being used is dry. Damp biomass tends to smoke more and firewood must be dry for efficient burning.
1. Firewood must be dry when used for lighting a fire as damp wood when burnt releases unclean smoke and covers the walls with soot. The water content of wood must be between 15-20% only. If there is more water than that the stove does not burn the wood effectively or efficiently.
2. The stove must be heated quickly with sufficient kindling as this raises the temperature within the stove leading to clean combustion. The correct lighting of fire also ensures that the stove reaches a good working temperature quickly.
3. Logs that are too large must not be used for burning as there must be air between the wood and the walls of the oven proper burning.
4. There must not be too much firewood as this hampers proper combustion. When wood is heated it gives out gasses, which requires air to be burnt and add to the flame in your stove. If there is too much firewood in the stove it hinders the optimal air supply.
5. Firewood is best bought early and is most effective when stored properly. Wood requires time to dry and it takes about two years for wood after it has been cut to dry correctly. Since smaller pieces of wood dry faster than larger ones, wood must be stored after it is chopped in the appropriate size for your stove. Wood must be stored in a place with air and sun where it is protected from rain.
6. Avoid covering the wood with plastic as this does not let the wood dry by keeping the humidity within. Also, it is not advisable to store wood indoors as there is a risk that the wood may rot due to insufficient ventilation.
Shell Foundation’s “My Kitchen, My Pride” campaign of 2008-09 was aimed at spreading awareness about the benefits and the necessity of keep wood dry as well as other ways to limit kitchen smoke.
The campaign was meant to raise awareness about the dangers from kitchen smoke, including pneumonia, respiratory diseases, cataracts, among others and guide them in making small changes to reduce kitchen smoke rather than ignoring the dangers of smoke in the kitchen.
