Question

Give two ways to reduce pollution from domestic cooking in rural areas.

Answer 1

1. Biomass cook stoves: Wood has been used as a fuel for a long time. The use of cow-dung cakes as a fuel is common in our country. Since these fuels are plant and animal products, the source of these fuels is termed as biomass. The use of biomass fuel also causes indoor and outdoor air pollution. These fuels do not produce much heat on burning, and also a lot of smoke is given out when they are burnt, which results in air pollution. The National Biomass Cookstoves Initiative (NBCI) was launched in the year 2009 to extend the use of clean energy to all Indian households through the development of 'the next generation' of household cookstoves and biomass-processing technologies.
2. Solar cooker and solar heater: Solar energy can be made popular in cooking. A solar heater is a device which is used to heat water using solar energy. It can be installed on the top of flat-roofed buildings.
3. Piped Natural Gas (PNG): Piped natural gas is the natural gas distributed through a pipeline network, providing an uninterrupted supply of gas for cooking to households. PNG is mainly methane with a small percentage of other higher· hydrocarbons. The provision of PNG as a domestic cooking fuel started a decade ago in India and is a relatively new entrant in many urban centres.
4. Electricity-based cooking: In recent years, electricity-based cooking has made inroads into the country, especially in urban areas. Due to erratic power supply with frequent outages in most of the rural areas, electricity-based cooking has not witnessed any significant penetration in rural India. Electricity for cooking is used in many forms, from a simple electric stove or resistive hot plate to induction-based cooking to microwave ovens.