Black Carbon Second-Leading Cause of Climate Change
Wood-burning cook stoves, diesel engines and coal plants are the primary emitters of black carbon — and the second-leading contributor to warming temperatures. It's estimated that black carbon is responsible for 18 percent of the atmosphere's warming. But an article in yesterday's New York Times points out ways to make significant reductions in black carbon emissions by making simple changes.
The good news is that methods to reduce black carbon emissions already exist and are pretty cheap. One of the most effective ways to reduce black carbon is to replace cook stoves that use wood or dung as fuel with more modern low-soot versions solar-powered stoves. Reducing black carbon emissions makes a difference right away — soot only stays in the air for about two weeks, according to researchers with the Energy and Resources Institute
Dr. Veerabhadran Ramanathan, a professor of climate science at the Scripps Institute of Oceanography tells the New York Times that decreasing soot now could slow the effects of climate change. “In terms of climate change we’re driving fast toward a cliff, and this could buy us time.”
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"Green Charcoal", an Interim Answer
Changing all wood-burning stoves to lower emission ones like solar stoves would be incredible. But switching "hundreds of millions of cookstoves" is not exactly an easy task, as the New York Times points out. While these stoves could have an amazing impact on health and the environment, they are also quite pricy. At about $20 a pop, these stoves are a luxury to those that live off of a couple of dollars a day .
There needs to be an inexpensive middle-of-the-road answer until prices are able to drop to a more affordable level (that is, unless a government is willing to fork over $10+ billion…Is that wood stove bailout money I hear?!), especially in countries that desperately need to wean themselves off of wood-burning stoves. Senegal is one of these countries. The over use of wood-burning stoves has been one of the main reasons for deforestation and desertification in the country. IRIN news just reported about an NGO in Senegal that is introducing "green charcoal" to help reduce these environmental disasters.
The new fuel is made out of compressed agricultural waste which is sent through a machine to carbonize it and make it closely resemble charcoal. While the emissions would be similar to that of charcoal, the new fuel has several enticing benefits. First of all, it is cheap — three times cheaper than charcoal. This will make it easier for people to better afford other basic needs. Second, it should dramatically lower deforestation by reducing the need for wood as fuel. To read about the benefits of reversing deforestation in Senegal, click here.
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