Indoor Air Pollution
When it comes to cooking indoors over open fires, the harmful health effects can be equal to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. This indoor air pollution plagues nearly nine out of every 10 Bangladeshi households, which use wood and other biofuels to cook inside. Our research suggests two principal ways to help decrease deadly air pollution inside the home. People could either burn the same biofuels that most Bangladeshi households currently use, but with smarter cook stoves that emit much less pollution, or they could change to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which burns much more cleanly.
Proposed Strategies
| Strategy | Takas of benefits per taka spent |
|---|---|
| Liquefied petroleum gas cookstoves | 1 |
| Biomass cookstoves | 5 |
Household cooking options for air pollution control
Research by economist Bjorn Larsen suggests two principal ways to help decrease deadly air pollution inside the home: People could either burn the same biofuels that most Bangladeshi households currently use, but with smarter cookstoves that emit much less pollution, or they could change to liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), which burns much more cleanly.
As many as 86-88% of households in Bangladesh cook with solid fuels, predominantly fuelwood but also agricultural residues and dung."
- Bjorn Larsen
Using smarter stoves to combat household air pollution
In a series of op-eds published in The Daily Star and Prothom Alo, Bjorn Lomborg outlined the key findings of the path-breaking research produced by the Bangladesh Priorities project.
When it comes to cooking indoors over open fires, the harmful health effects can be equal to smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. This indoor air pollution plagues nearly nine out of every 10 Bangladeshi households, which use wood and other biofuels to cook inside."
- Bjorn Lomborg
What's the smartest solution for Bangladesh?
Making cook stoves cleaner can help fight household air pollution with about Tk. 5 of good for every taka spent. Are these some of the best investments for Bangladesh? After reviewing 1,000s of pages of peer-reviewed research an Eminent Panel ranked 72 solutions from the best to the worst in terms of delivering the most social, economic and environmental value for money. Find out what they ranked the highest here.