Experts for adoption of improved cookstoves in households

NEW DELHI: Noting that air pollution insdie households, caused by use of traditional cookstoves, was responsible for around 5 lakh deaths in India every year, experts recommended adoption of improved cookstoves.

The issue was raised at the India Clean Cookstove Forum (ICCF) 2014 here today where experts from various sections, including government and industry deliberated over challenges hindering the large-scale adoption of improved cookstoves (ICS) in the country.

The number of deaths is is second only to tuberculosis (TB) which takes about 5.5 lakh lives every year in the country, they said.

According to a WHO report, over 145 million Indian households use traditional cookstoves for their daily cooking and depend on biomass fuels such as wood, dung, or agricultural residues, that cause health-threatening levels of indoor air pollution.

Household air pollution is also a leading cause of lower life expectancy, caused by cardiovascular disease, lung cancer, chronic pulmonary disease, pneumonia, and other acute infections, the experts noted.

"The negative effects of traditional cooking practices can be significantly reduced by the use of improved cook-stoves, adoption of which so far have been low in India," Head of the Renewable Energy Component of the Indo-German Energy Programme, GIZ India, Dr Harald Richter said.

He pointed out that this is due to factors like "low demand due to low awareness about indoor air pollution and improved cookstoves, insufficient supply of appropriate technologies and fuels, as well as the lack of economically viable business and distribution models".

To address these significant challenges, experts recommended increasing demand by developing cost-effective marketing and awareness campaigns, establishing models for end-user finance along with improving supply by facilitating stove selection and design by supporting manufacturers and distributors to develop and select appropriate cooking technologies that are best suited for specific regional contexts.

They also suggested segmenting rural market by developing options on biomass, LPG and the new entrant of induction cooking and improving market environment by supporting the implementation of policies and support schemes to strengthen the policy environment for clean cooking technologies.