Cutting use of household fuels can save 2.7 lakh lives annually

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi conducted a study published in the journal proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, revealed that India could make a major dent in air pollution and save about 270,000 lives a year by curbing emissions from dirty household fuels such as wood, dung, coal and kerosene. Eliminating emissions from these sources, without any changes to industrial or vehicle emissions, would bring the average outdoor air pollution levels below the country’s air quality standard.

Eliminating the use of such household fuels could also reduce air pollution-related deaths in the country by about 13 per cent, which is equivalent to saving about 270,000 lives a year, said researchers, including Sagnik Dey from IIT Delhi. “Household fuels are the single biggest source of outdoor air pollution in India,” said Kirk R Smith, a professor at the University of California.

The bulk of air pollution originates from burning biomass, such as wood, cow dung or crop residues to cook and heat the home, and from burning kerosene for lighting, especially in many rural areas of the world where electricity and gas lines are scarce.

Electrification and distribution of clean-burning propane to rural areas would help in complete mitigation of biomass as fuel and would cut India’s average annual air pollution to 38 micrograms per cubic meter, just below the country’s National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 40 micrograms per cubic meter.

In 2016, India instituted a national programme to distribute clean burning stoves and propane to 80 million impoverished households, or about 500 million people, researchers said. The rationale behind this programme was to prevent illness due to cooking and heating smoke trapped within the home.