Costing the Earth: Rethinking Climate Change

In a BBC Radio 4 Program "Rethinking Climate Change" in the series "Costing the Earth", a spectrum of scientists and climate change activists discuss the Hartwell report which says that we need to start afresh if we are to have any hope of success.

These scientists point out the obvious failure to reach multi-national agreements on curbing emissions. Future strategy, they say, should be led by individual groups, governments and temporary alliances. Efforts should focus on practical solutions that bring other benefits alongside emission-control. If a strategy brings about poverty reduction or economic renewal then it is much more likely to attract widespread support than any programme labelled as 'anti-climate change'.

This group of scientists argues that the focus on carbon dioxide has been mis-guided from the start. They estimate that more than half of man-made warming can be attributed to sources other than the burning of coal, gas and oil, and most of those emissions are easier to reduce. We should tackle black soot, reactive nitrogen and methane before we make the kind of tough decisions needed to fight carbon dioxide.

In 'Costing the Earth' Tom Heap conducts a thorough examination of the new approach with experts including author Bjorn Lomborg, the UN's Yvo de Boer and climate negotiators from Oxfam and WWF. He asks if it's right to abandon all the efforts made over the last decade. Can we really save the planet without every major nation signed up to the same plan? Shell Foundations's Simon Bishop also talks in the program about improved cookstoves and the contribution it can make to reducing black soot.

RTI Launches Multi-Disciplinary Research Programs on Biomass Cookstoves

RTI International has launched a multidisciplinary research effort to understand and address the adverse health and environmental impacts related to the use of biomass cook stoves in developing nations, according to a RTI International News Release.

This effort will fill some technology gaps as well as help RTI better integrate and apply the huge range of Institute technical and societal research programs, staff and skills.

RTI International is one of the world’s leading research institutes, dedicated to improving the human condition by turning knowledge into practice.

As part of this program, four different research teams, funded through the RTI Fellow Program, are exploring the scientific, societal and policy challenges associated with the stoves and their use.

RTI’s four projects are diverse but integrated, addressing concerns that include the following:

First, an assessment of biomass stove use in Sri Lanka. RTI researchers, working in partnership with a researcher with the Sri Lanka National Institute of Health, will review data on respiratory diseases and characterize stove use in-country. Incorporating comparative international research, the team will develop a comprehensive profile of risk factors and stove use, drawing attention to ethnic, gender, urban, rural and district characteristics of the issue.

Second, an effort to design cleaner biomass cook stoves. A cross-functional team of engineers and scientists will investigate existing stove designs and performance and explore innovative approaches toward improvements. In addition to considering overall combustion efficiency, the researchers will examine the links between stove design and operating conditions and the subsequent personal exposure concentrations.

Third, research to characterize emissions and exposure. This team will apply RTI’s 40 years of research on environmental contaminants to better understand the personal exposure and health effects of black-brown carbon emissions. The team will characterize emissions and resulting exposure using two different technologies—RTI’s MicroPEM™ and Optical Reflective Method.

Fourth, physical collection of dried blood spots to assess black carbon emissions. Specifically, the team will analyze blood samples for the presence and level of PAH-hemoglobin adducts, which indicate levels of black carbon exposure. This method will also use a baseline measure to assess the effectiveness of improved cook stove designs.

RTI began the “Grand Challenges” initiative last year to fund areas of research that are complex and require multidisciplinary but thoroughly integrated approaches and solutions to succeed.

“The work we are funding represents thinking at many levels,” said Lead Fellow Edo Pellizzari, Ph.D. “As part of our mission to improve the human condition, we at RTI are seeking to apply our wide-ranging scientific and policy research to real-world challenges in a manner that is culturally appropriate and sustainable.”

Photo: An RTI biomass stove design

Time For Less-Smoke Chulhas

On World Environment Day,India's leading newspaper, Times of India devoted its edition to examining various issues and initiatives around environment. Noting that polluting chulhas are finally finding alternatives in efficient, less-smoke chulhas that reduce health and environmental risks, the Times of India reported on the efforts by Shell Foundation and Envirofit to make a difference through sustained campaigns in South India and Karnataka.

The report quotes Shell Foundation's Room to Breathe Campaign head, Simon Bishop, saying, "A new impetus is required to get the government and agencies to spread awareness on the ill-effects of firewood-inefficient stoves"

The Times of India story, "Use Less-Smoke Chulhas" says: "Which chulha would you prefer this Environment Day? Firewood chulhas are on their way out. After decades of using inefficient chulhas that lead to indoor air pollution (IAP), now the market has some models of efficient, less-smoke chulhas that can minimize the health and environmental risks.

IAP is the kitchen fume released by the burning of wood and biomass. Black carbon, a major environmental issue, is also the main component of soot, a product of incomplete combustion of fossil fuels, the burning of biomass in rural cook stoves. However, now villagers have an option. The firewood consumption can be cut by 80% in case of fuel-efficient stoves.

“We are working in all four southern states. In Karnataka, we are in Gulbarga, Bidar, Chamarajnagar etc. Shell Foundation and Envirofit are particularly doing a lot of awareness activities in Shimoga. We have sold 1.20 lakh stoves already. So it’s clear that people are interested. But the user is usually the woman in the house but decision maker is the man. They often fail to understand what kind of health impacts the woman is facing,” says Envirofit MD Harish Anchan.

Various options like micro-finance partners are being used to make it easily affordable for villagers. The price range is around Rs 850 to Rs 2,500 for single and double pot stoves.

According to Simon Bishop who is leading the IAP campaign of Shell Foundation, internationally the campaign against IAP through efficient cooking stoves will pick up as it is one of the main ways to deal with carbon emissions.

Several organizations have already prepared a draft report on the initiative for development and deployment of cook stoves and action plan will be submitted to the ministry of new and renewable energy. “A lot of government resources had gone into the National Programme on Improved Cookstoves between 1985 and 2004 but the results were mixed. A new impetus is required to get the government and agencies to spread awareness on the ill-effects of firewood-inefficient stoves,” he said.