Household-level cooking stove emissions, perceptions and influencing factors: Lessons learned from Rangunia Upazila, Chittagong, Bangladesh

In developing countries, connections between rural households' energy access, efficiency of cooking technologies, and relevant factors are less understood. This study investigates household-level cooking stove's carbon-dioxide (CO2) emissions, perceptions, and influencing factors in Chittagong, Bangladesh. Methods involve a survey of 176 randomly selected households with a pre-tested questionnaire, and relevant measurements of traditional cooking stoves (TCS) and improved cooking stoves (ICS) of the households in three different categories: nearby, far, and very far from a protected forest area. Results show that most of the households use double-mouthed TCS, although ICS can save 27% fuels and 25% CO2 emissions compared to TCS. Between 44% to 84% of the respondents prefer ICS because these are less labor intensive, emission-friendly as well as fuel- and time- efficient. The perception varies significantly between the households located far away and nearby the park. The amount of fuelwood and total biomass fuels used in the TCS tends to be significantly (p < 0.05) higher than those in the ICS, which corresponds to the higher emissions in TCS. We also find that a household releases six times higher CO2 emissions from burning fuelwood and other biomass fuels compared to use of non-renewable fuels. Households with pucca (brick-built) houses, financial affluency, education, large family size, away from the park, and larger homestead area tend to release more emissions from the use of fuelwood and non-renewable fuels. This study finding can help policymakers make informed decisions in implementing ICS and other cleaner biomass-based projects.