In some developing countries, solid fuels are still used in traditional stoves for cooking, resulting in household air pollution, respiratory illnesses, heart problems and even death. How can we solve this persistent problem caused by unclean cooking fuels?
Crave HubbBud
Reports state that the second leading environmental cause of death in the world is pollution from indoor fires. Each year, around 3.8 million people die prematurely from diseases caused due to indoor air pollution, like stroke, pneumonia, respiratory diseases, and cancer. Unfortunately, the same report estimates that more than three billion people globally use either biomass, kerosene, or coal as cooking fuel.
Bhubaneshwar-based Debashree Padhi, an engineer, developed a solution that addresses two of India’s biggest air pollution causes—biomass fuels and stubble burning.
The 23-year-old has designed ‘Agnis’ cooking stoves that produce no particulate matter and emits less than 0.15 ppm carbon monoxide. Another advantage of Agnis is that the users do not have forage in the forests for firewood. The end-to-end clean cooking technology reduces the cooking time by half compared to regular stoves.
Across South Asian countries biomass fuel and coal are heavily used for cooking. Such innovations would not only show improved health among the populace but reduce their expenditure on treatments and cut down the cooking time to make the air less poisonous.
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