he health effects of cooking with biomass and coal are now well-recognised. Although more people use LPG, the number of those using biomass and coal has remained static for nearly 30 years. While LPG subsidies have played an important role in expanding access to this cooking fuel, directing the subsidies to the poorest and the most vulnerable remains a fraught matter. This article proposes that consumers opt in for the subsidy by self-certifying that their household income is less than an amount set by the government, instead of the opt-out approach followed today.

A new report co-written by the International Energy Agency (IEA) describes the state of energy performance in buildings and highlights how an energy efficient, low-carbon pathway can save more than 50 exajoules of energy annually around the world.

This paper presents an overview of current household energy trends in Africa, and the reasons why access to modern cooking facilities remains so low.

Although Africa has enormous energy resources, more than half of the continent’s population do not have any access to electricity and generation is often unable to meet the demand of those who do. Growth and poverty reduction will be constrained if this deficit continues.

A new WHO report has called for an urgent need to reduce emissions of black carbon, ozone and methane — as well as carbon dioxide — which all contribute to climate change.

A new WHO report highlights the urgent need to reduce emissions of black carbon, ozone and methane - as well as carbon dioxide – which all contribute to climate change.

The Southern African Development Community (SADC) region of 15 countries, with approximately 23.5 per cent of energy generated from renewables, is becoming a key player in the international trend towards developing renewable energy resources and energy efficiency, according to a new report.

Only a fifth of rural households in India have access to an LPG connection and 95% of rural households use some form of traditional fuel for cooking, the largest energy access survey in

Air contaminated with pollutants such as ozone and tiny particles could cause the premature death of about 6.6 million people a year by 2050 if nothing is done to improve air quality, warns this study published in the journal Nature

Existing carbon offset protocols for improved cookstoves do not require emissions testing. They are based only on estimated reductions in the use of non-renewable biomass generated by a given stove, and use simplistic calculations to convert those fuel savings to imputed emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2). Yet recent research has shown that different cookstoves vary tremendously in their combustion quality, and thus in their emissions profiles of both CO2 and other products of incomplete combustion.

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