Environmental Sustainability of Bioenergy Strategies in Western Kenya to Address Household Air Pollution

Ricardo Luís Carvalho, Pooja Yadav, Natxo García-López, Robert Lindgren, Gert Nyberg, Rocio Diaz-Chavez, Venkata Krishna Kumar Upadhyayula, Christoffer Boman and Dimitris Athanassiadis
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Ricardo Luís Carvalho: Thermochemical Energy Conversion Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Pooja Yadav: Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183 Umeå, Sweden
Natxo García-López: Thermochemical Energy Conversion Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Robert Lindgren: Thermochemical Energy Conversion Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Gert Nyberg: Department of Forest Ecology and Management, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183 Umeå, Sweden
Rocio Diaz-Chavez: Stockholm Environment Institute, Africa Centre, World Agroforestry Centre, Nairobi 30677, Kenya
Venkata Krishna Kumar Upadhyayula: Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Christoffer Boman: Thermochemical Energy Conversion Laboratory, Department of Applied Physics and Electronics, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden
Dimitris Athanassiadis: Department of Forest Biomaterials and Technology, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, 90183 Umeå, Sweden

Energies, 2020, vol. 13, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: Over 640 million people in Africa are expected to rely on solid-fuels for cooking by 2040. In Western Kenya, cooking inefficiently persists as a major cause of burden of disease due to household air pollution. Efficient biomass cooking is a local-based renewable energy solution to address this issue. The Life-Cycle Assessment tool Simapro 8.5 is applied for analyzing the environmental impact of four biomass cooking strategies for the Kisumu County, with analysis based on a previous energy modelling study, and literature and background data from the Ecoinvent and Agrifootprint databases applied to the region. A Business-As-Usual scenario (BAU) considers the trends in energy use until 2035. Transition scenarios to Improved Cookstoves (ICS), Pellet-fired Gasifier Stoves (PGS) and Biogas Stoves (BGS) consider the transition to wood-logs, biomass pellets and biogas, respectively. An Integrated (INT) scenario evaluates a mix of the ICS, PGS and BGS. In the BGS, the available biomass waste is sufficient to be upcycled and fulfill cooking demands by 2035. This scenario has the lowest impact on all impact categories analyzed followed by the PGS and INT. Further work should address a detailed socio-economic analysis of the analyzed scenarios.

Keywords: agroforestry; waste valorization; sustainable development goals; renewable energy; bioenergy transitions; circular bioeconomy; clean cooking; life-cycle assessment; energy policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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