Assessing particulate matter and black carbon emissions from homes using traditional and alternative cookstoves in rural Nepal

摘要

Billions of people throughout the developing world use traditional cookstoves fueled with biomass (such as wood, dried animal manure, and crop residue). Inefficient combustion of biomass results in the formation of large amounts of particulate matter (PM) air pollution. Light reflecting black carbon is a significant component of this PM. Black carbon is considered a short-term climate agent with an average atmospheric residence time on the order of days to weeks, compared to some greenhouse gases that can have an atmospheric residence time of years to centuries. In addition to having an effect on regional hydrological cycles, black carbon deposition on glaciers, sea, or land ice causes a decrease in surface albedo, thus resulting in an acceleration of the melting process. The Himalayas, an area containing the largest snow and ice mass outside the North and South Poles, are vulnerable to black carbon deposition from highly prevalent biomass cooking in surrounding countries. Deposition of black carbon from air pollution has the potential to impact the availability of glaciers in this region, which act as a water source for close to a billion people throughout South and East Asia. As a result, due to the larger population, biomass for cooking in South Central Asia has the potential to impact climate change on a local and global scale.;It is believed that a large majority of black carbon production in South Asia is a result of cooking with biomass fuels. However, biomass cooking is not the only source of black carbon. Mobile (diesel vehicles) and stationary (brick kilns) sources can also be significant emitters. This study estimates black carbon emissions associated with traditional and alternative cookstoves at the household level. This study can be further separated into three main components. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.).