Biomass
Practical Action
Biomass energy and the environment
Concern for the environment was one of the major inspirations for early research and
development work on improved stoves. One of the greatest paradoxes of this work is that, the
more that is learnt about people, fuel and cooking, the more it is realised how little was
understood about the environment and the implications concerning domestic energy use.
Initially, one environmental concern dominated the improved stoves work - saving trees. Today,
this issue is considerably downplayed as time has brought a clearer understanding of the true
causes of deforestation. At the same time, other environmental issues have become dominant.
Climate change due to the emission of greenhouse gasses, especially carbon dioxide with
relation to stoves and combustion of biomass is a complex issue. Wood is carbon natural over
long time periods but not on smaller time scale. Therefore, fuel efficient stoves can reduce CO2
emissions. Large-scale combustion of biomass is only environmentally feasible if carried out on
a sustainable basis. For obvious reasons continual large-scale exploitation of biomass resources
without care for its replacement and regeneration will cause environmental damage and also
jeopardise the fuel source itself.
Household smoke and the related health issues are now being given greater consideration.
These micro environmental needs are often as complex as the broader environmental concerns
and this is reflected in the fact that no one improved stove design can meet the needs of a wide
and diverse range of peoples.
Women, woodfuel, work and welfare
For resource-poor women the working day
stretched from dawn to long after dark. The
pressures on women’s time are heavy, cooking
and fuel collection are among the most arduous of
their tasks. The effects of inhaling biomass
smoke during cooking are receiving attention from
researchers; chronic bronchitis, heart disease,
acute respiratory diseases and eye infections have
been linked with smoky interiors, but the impacts
of fuel shortage on cooking and nutrition are
scarcely noticed.
As fuel shortages make extra demands on time
and energy, women are driven to various coping
strategies. More time spent collecting fuel can
mean less time growing or preparing food so that
quality and quantity of food diminish.
Malnourished women become more vulnerable to
Figure 6: Women design and
manufacture improved cook stoves.
Photo: Simon Ekless/Practical Action
smoke pollution which damage their lungs, eyes,
children and unborn babies. But improved stoves
can cook faster and burn fuel more efficiently,
which lowers levels of exposure to biomass smoke
and releases time for other activities. Adapting
kitchen design can also help remove smoke from the cooking area.
Greater technology choice can help to emancipate women from drudgery and give them more
control over precious resources. In some places cooking is a particularly time-consuming task, so
an improved stove which cooks faster may be a source of delight. Elsewhere, fuel management
strategies by women save more fuel than carefully planned stove programmes. Stove
technologists can offer choices, but decisions about household energy technologies should be
left in the hands of women, the real experts on cooking.
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