Sustainability

The Problem

Why is clean cooking a development priority? According to the World Bank, three billion people globally lack access to clean cooking solutions.  

About 40 percent of the world’s population still uses solid fuels and kerosene, the burning of which has deleterious health, economic, and environmental consequences.

Every year up to four million people die prematurely from the effects of household air pollution caused by cooking with solid fuels—almost all of them in low- and middle-income countries (WHO 2014a; Forouzanfar and others 2016).

In addition, use of these fuels imposes massive economic costs: Household air pollution in low- and middle-income countries caused an estimated $1.52 trillion in economic losses and $94 billion in lost labor income in 2013 (World Bank 2016).

Use of solid fuels for cooking also causes forest loss and degradation where concentrated use of wood fuels is prevalent. The need to adopt clean cooking fuels and stoves is thus urgent.

The global prioritization of clean cooking is reflected in the Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG7)—ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all by 2030.

Achieving this will require a massive scale-up in the deployment and adoption of clean and affordable clean cooking solutions (WHO 2016).

The Solution

LPG as the most viable option

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)—known in some countries as propane, butane, bottled gas, or cooking gas—is a clean-burning and efficient cooking fuel used by almost three billion people. It has long been an aspirational fuel choice for many urban and rural poor.

The environmental footprint of LPG is negligible compared with biomass and other fuels (Grieshop, Marshall, and Kandlika 2011), because of its very efficient and complete combustion, and its sustained performance in field use over time (Smith, Rogers, and Cowlin 2005). LPG emits negligible amounts of black carbon and other short-lived pollutants that contribute to global warming (Grieshop, Marshall, and Kandlika 2011).

LPG has a clean emission profile and low sulfur content. In global burden of disease studies, cooking with LPG is taken as the feasible counterfactual level of pollution, because it is usually the first clean fuel consumers use when they move away from biomass.

Benefits

Carbon Emission and Efficiency

  • 170 – 415 million tons – Annual atmospheric reduction in CO2 with a switch to LPG, to aid in alleviating global warming;

Deforestation

  • 50% –  Amount of Energy transfer by LPG in comparison. Wood and related sources typically transfer 10-20% of energy;
  • Supplying the current global demand for wood fuel requires the annual harvesting of 2.5 million hectares of forest.

Healthier Alternative and Ease of Use

  • WHO report indicates that 22% of all respiratory ailments in developing countries are as a result of smoke from use of wood fuels, which is usually in poorly ventilated conditions. Instead of emitting choking smoke, LPG is problem-free for indoor use.