Daily average exposures to carbon monoxide from combustion of biomass fuels in rural households of Haryana, India

Sneha Gautam (), Ajay Pillarisetti, Ankit Yadav, Deepak Singh, Narendra Arora and Kirk Smith
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Sneha Gautam: Marwadi University
Ajay Pillarisetti: University of California, Berkeley
Ankit Yadav: The INCLEN Trust International
Deepak Singh: Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur
Narendra Arora: The INCLEN Trust International
Kirk Smith: University of California, Berkeley

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2019, vol. 21, issue 5, No 24, 2567-2575

Abstract: Abstract Exposure to harmful by-products of combustion arising from the use of biomass fuels for cooking and heating in rural areas of developing countries results in poor air quality and is responsible for millions of deaths yearly. Little formal quantification and measurement of carbon monoxide (CO), one of these harmful air pollutants, have been performed in rural areas of North India. In the current study, we measured exposure to CO from cooking and heating in seven households using biomass and liquid petroleum gas (LPG) in open and closed kitchens. Exposures to CO ranged from 4.81 to 7.01, 0.20 to 1.81, and 0.02 to 0.75 mg m−3 for households cooking with biomass, cooking with LPG, and for households in which no cooking occurred, respectively. It was observed that the CO concentration in biomass-only households is much higher (78%) than in LPG-only households (14%). We found exposures in closed kitchens approximately two times higher than in open kitchens. Location of the kitchen (i.e., open vs. closed) was the most important determinant of exposure of primary cooks to CO in this geography.

Keywords: CO; Cooking; Biomass fuel; Rural India; Exposure; Kitchen; Health (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10668-018-0131-1

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