| Abstract
| - Linkages between household energy technology, indoorair pollution, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions havebecome increasingly important in understanding the localand global environmental and health effects of domesticenergy use. We report on GHG emissions from commonKenyan wood and charcoal cookstoves. Our estimationsare based on 29 d of measurements under the conditionsof actual use in 19 rural Kenyan households. Carbonmonoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM10), combustion phase,and fuel mass were measured continuously or in shortintervals in day-long monitoring sessions. Emissionsof pollutants other than CO and PM10 were estimatedusing emissions ratios from published literature. We estimatedthat the daily carbon emissions from charcoal stoves(5202 ± 2257 g of C: mean ± SD) were lower than bothtraditional open fire (5990 ± 1843 g of C) and improved ceramicwoodstoves (5905 ± 1553 g of C), but the differenceswere not statistically significant. However, when eachpollutant was weighted using a 20-yr global warming potential,charcoal stoves emitted larger amounts of GHGs thaneither type of woodstove (9850 ± 4600 g of C for charcoalas compared to 8310 ± 2400 and 9649 ± 2207 for openfire and ceramic woodstoves, respectively; differences notstatistically significant). Non-CO2 emissions from charcoalstoves were 5549 ± 2700 g of C in 20-yr CO2 equivalentunits, while emissions were 2860 ± 680 and 4711 ± 919 forthree-stone fires and improved ceramic stoves, respectively,with statistically significant results between charcoaland wood stoves. Therefore in a sustainable fuel-cycle(i.e., excluding CO2), charcoal stoves have larger emissionsthan woodstoves. When the emissions from charcoalproduction, measured in a previous study, were includedin the assessment, the disparity between the GHG emissionsfrom charcoal and firewood increased significantly, with non-CO2 GHG emissions factors (g of C/kg of fuel burned)for charcoal production and consumption 6−13 times higherthan emissions from woodstoves. Policy implications andoptions for environment and public health are discussed.
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