Low greenhouse gas biomass options for cooking in the developing countries

Large quantities of biomass fuels are used for cooking in the developing countries. Although biomass is a renewable source of energy, traditional biomass-fired stoves cause significant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions due to formation of products of incomplete combustion, also, exposure to smoke from these stoves causes serious health problems. This paper presents an analysis of a number of selected options available for developing Countries in the context of reducing total greenhouse gas emission per unit of useful energy for cooking. It is assumed that biomass as an energy carrier is CO2-neutral. However, other GHGs emitted from biomass combustion cause a net greenhouse effect; accordingly, in this study only the non-CO2 greenhouse gases i.e. CH4 and N2O are considered in estimating GHG emission for different biomass-based cooking options. The total GHG emission from traditional wood-fired stoves is estimated to be about 110 g of CO2 equivalent per mega joule of useful energy (g CO2-e MJ(useful)(-1)) delivered to the cooking pot; this can be compared with 42, 5, 2 350, 166 and 196 g CO2-e MJ(useful)(-1) in case of improved wood-, biogas-, producer gas-, kerosene-, natural gas- and LPG-fired stoves, respectively. Modem biomass based cooking options such as improved biomass-, biogas- and producer gas-fired stoves can potentially play an important role in mitigating GHG emission from domestic cooking by providing an alternative to kerosene-, natural gas- and LPG-fired stoves. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.