Reducing wood-smoke through standard test methods: lessons from Australia

Particulate air pollution from biomass fuelled cookstoves in developing countries is causing serious health problems. In Australia, efforts at reducing particle emissions from wood fuelled heating appliances have proved successful, largely as a result of adoption of a standard method for measuring particle emissions. By quantifying emissions, manufactures have been able to design and build cleaner appliances, regulators have been able to restrict sales of poorly performing heaters, and consumers have reliable information for selecting clean burning models. The better heaters produce only one tenth the smoke of typical heaters seven years ago. This paper argues that development of an internationally accepted method for measuring smoke emissions from cookstoves could lead to large improvements in air quality and health in developing countries. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. | Particulate air pollution from biomass fuelled cookstoves in developing countries is causing serious health problems. In Australia, efforts at reducing particle emissions from wood fuelled heating appliances have proved successful, largely as a result of adoption of a standard method for measuring particle emissions. By quantifying emissions, manufactures have been able to design and build cleaner appliances, regulators have been able to restrict sales of poorly performing heaters, and consumers have reliable information for selecting clean burning models. The better heaters produce only one tenth the smoke of typical heaters seven years ago. This paper argues that development of an internationally accepted method for measuring smoke emissions from cookstoves could lead to large improvements in air quality and health in developing countries. | Wood smoke emissions from biomass-fueled cookstoves pose serious health problems. Efforts to reduce particulate emissions from such devices have proven successful in Australia, due to adoption of a standard test method for emissions measurement. Manufacturers now design and build cleaner appliances on the basis of emissions quantified from specific units. Regulators have been able to restrict sales of highly polluting devices and consumers have reliable information for selecting clean-burning appliances. Development of a globally accepted method for cookstove smoke emissions measurement could foster improvements in air quality and health in developing areas. (from World Renewable Energy Conf Proceedings, Perth, Australia, Feb 99).