IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/deveng/v1y2016icp45-52.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Avoided emissions of a fuel-efficient biomass cookstove dwarf embodied emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Wilson, D.L.
  • Talancon, D.R.
  • Winslow, R.L.
  • Linares, X.
  • Gadgil, A.J.

Abstract

Three billion people cook their food on biomass-fueled fires. This practice contributes to the anthropogenic radiative forcing. Fuel-efficient biomass cookstoves have the potential to reduce CO2-equivalent emissions from cooking, however, cookstoves made from modern materials and distributed through energy-intensive supply chains have higher embodied CO2-equivalent than traditional cookstoves. No studies exist examining whether lifetime emissions savings from fuel-efficient biomass cookstoves offset embodied emissions, and if so, by what margin. This paper is a complete life cycle inventory of “The Berkeley–Darfur Stove,” disseminated in Sudan by the non-profit Potential Energy. We estimate the embodied CO2-equivalent in the cookstove associated with materials, manufacturing, transportation, and end-of-life is 17kg of CO2-equivalent. Assuming a mix of 55% non-renewable biomass and 45% renewable biomass, five years of service, and a conservative 35% reduction in fuel use relative to a three-stone fire, the cookstove will offset 7.5 tonnes of CO2-equivalent. A one-to-one replacement of a three-stone fire with the cookstove will save roughly 440 times more CO2-equivalent than it “costs” to create and distribute. Over its five-year life, we estimate the total use-phase emissions of the cookstove to be 13.5 tonnes CO2-equivalent, and the use-phase accounts for 99.9% of cookstove life cycle emissions. The dominance of use-phase emissions illuminate two important insights: (1) without a rigorous program to monitor use-phase emissions, an accurate estimate of life cycle emissions from biomass cookstoves is not possible, and (2) improving a cookstove's avoided emissions relies almost exclusively on reducing use-phase emissions even if use-phase reductions come at the cost of substantially increased non-use-phase emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Wilson, D.L. & Talancon, D.R. & Winslow, R.L. & Linares, X. & Gadgil, A.J., 2016. "Avoided emissions of a fuel-efficient biomass cookstove dwarf embodied emissions," Development Engineering, Elsevier, vol. 1(C), pages 45-52.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:deveng:v:1:y:2016:i:c:p:45-52
    DOI: 10.1016/j.deveng.2016.01.001
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352728515300464
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.deveng.2016.01.001?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Afrane, George & Ntiamoah, Augustine, 2012. "Analysis of the life-cycle costs and environmental impacts of cooking fuels used in Ghana," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 301-306.
    2. N. Panwar & A. Kurchania & N. Rathore, 2009. "Mitigation of greenhouse gases by adoption of improved biomass cookstoves," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 14(6), pages 569-578, August.
    3. Ghosh, Subhodip, 2010. "Status of thermal power generation in India--Perspectives on capacity, generation and carbon dioxide emissions," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(11), pages 6886-6899, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Rahut, Dil Bahadur & Aryal, Jeetendra Prakash & Chhay, Panharoth & Sonobe, Tetsushi, 2022. "Ethnicity/caste-based social differentiation and the consumption of clean cooking energy in Nepal: An exploration using panel data," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(C).
    2. Fernando Antonanzas-Torres & Ruben Urraca & Camilo Andres Cortes Guerrero & Julio Blanco-Fernandez, 2021. "Solar E-Cooking with Low-Power Solar Home Systems for Sub-Saharan Africa," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-19, November.
    3. Dagnachew, Anteneh G. & Hof, Andries F. & Lucas, Paul L. & van Vuuren, Detlef P., 2020. "Scenario analysis for promoting clean cooking in Sub-Saharan Africa: Costs and benefits," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    4. Watkins, T. & Arroyo, P. & Perry, R. & Wang, R. & Arriaga, O. & Fleming, M. & O'Day, C. & Stone, I. & Sekerak, J. & Mast, D. & Hayes, N. & Keller, P. & Schwartz, P., 2017. "Insulated Solar Electric Cooking – Tomorrow's healthy affordable stoves?," Development Engineering, Elsevier, vol. 2(C), pages 47-52.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Porzio, Giacomo Filippo & Colla, Valentina & Fornai, Barbara & Vannucci, Marco & Larsson, Mikael & Stripple, Håkan, 2016. "Process integration analysis and some economic-environmental implications for an innovative environmentally friendly recovery and pre-treatment of steel scrap," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 656-672.
    2. Malla, Sunil & Timilsina, Govinda R, 2014. "Household cooking fuel choice and adoption of improved cookstoves in developing countries : a review," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6903, The World Bank.
    3. Elías Hurtado Pérez & Oscar Mulumba Ilunga & David Alfonso Solar & María Cristina Moros Gómez & Paula Bastida-Molina, 2020. "Sustainable Cooking Based on a 3 kW Air-Forced Multifuel Gasification Stove Using Alternative Fuels Obtained from Agricultural Wastes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(18), pages 1-15, September.
    4. Patel, Sameer & Khandelwal, Anish & Leavey, Anna & Biswas, Pratim, 2016. "A model for cost-benefit analysis of cooking fuel alternatives from a rural Indian household perspective," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 291-302.
    5. Topriska, Evangelia & Kolokotroni, Maria & Dehouche, Zahir & Novieto, Divine T. & Wilson, Earle A., 2016. "The potential to generate solar hydrogen for cooking applications: Case studies of Ghana, Jamaica and Indonesia," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 95(C), pages 495-509.
    6. Pandey, Krishan K. & Pragya, Namita & Sahoo, P.K., 2011. "Life cycle assessment of small-scale high-input Jatropha biodiesel production in India," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 4831-4839.
    7. Panwar, N.L. & Kothari, Richa & Tyagi, V.V., 2012. "Thermo chemical conversion of biomass – Eco friendly energy routes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 1801-1816.
    8. Majidpour, Mehdi, 2012. "Heavy duty gas turbines in Iran, India and China: Do national energy policies drive the industries?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 723-732.
    9. Mehetre, Sonam A. & Panwar, N.L. & Sharma, Deepak & Kumar, Himanshu, 2017. "Improved biomass cookstoves for sustainable development: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 672-687.
    10. Lee, Jaehyung & Jang, Heesun, 2022. "A real options study on cook stove CDM project under emission allowance price uncertainty," Journal of Asian Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    11. Kursun, Berrin & Bakshi, Bhavik R. & Mahata, Manoj & Martin, Jay F., 2015. "Life cycle and emergy based design of energy systems in developing countries: Centralized and localized options," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 305(C), pages 40-53.
    12. Zhou, Kaile & Yang, Shanlin & Shen, Chao & Ding, Shuai & Sun, Chaoping, 2015. "Energy conservation and emission reduction of China’s electric power industry," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 10-19.
    13. Ian H. Rowlands, 2011. "Co-impacts of energy-related climate change mitigation in Africa�s least developed countries: the evidence base and research needs," GRI Working Papers 39, Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment.
    14. Lori DiPrete Brown & Sumudu Atapattu & Valerie Jo Stull & Claudia Irene Calderón & Mariaelena Huambachano & Marie Josée Paula Houénou & Anna Snider & Andrea Monzón, 2020. "From a Three-Legged Stool to a Three-Dimensional World: Integrating Rights, Gender and Indigenous Knowledge into Sustainability Practice and Law," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-22, November.
    15. Longo, Sonia & Cellura, Maurizio & Luu, Le Quyen & Nguyen, Thanh Quang & Rincione, Roberta & Guarino, Francesco, 2024. "Circular economy and life cycle thinking applied to the biomass supply chain: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 220(C).
    16. Ian Rowlands, 2011. "Ancillary impacts of energy-related climate change mitigation options in Africa’s least developed countries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 16(7), pages 749-773, October.
    17. Yu, Bolin & Fang, Debin & Yu, Hongwei & Zhao, Chaoyang, 2021. "Temporal-spatial determinants of renewable energy penetration in electricity production: Evidence from EU countries," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 438-451.
    18. Eto, R. & Murata, A. & Uchiyama, Y. & Okajima, K., 2013. "Co-benefits of including CCS projects in the CDM in India's power sector," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 260-268.
    19. Yadav, Vinod Kumar & Padhy, N.P. & Gupta, H.O., 2011. "Performance evaluation and improvement directions for an Indian electric utility," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(11), pages 7112-7120.
    20. Azimoh, Chukwuma Leonard & Wallin, Fredrik & Klintenberg, Patrik & Karlsson, Björn, 2014. "An assessment of unforeseen losses resulting from inappropriate use of solar home systems in South Africa," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 336-346.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:deveng:v:1:y:2016:i:c:p:45-52. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/development-engineering .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.