We recently announced The Charcoal Project’s intention to help quantify the cost to society of current levels and practices of biomass consumption in the developing world.
Once we discover the direct and indirect costs of “business as usual”, we can then figure out the cost-benefit of pushing for the large-scale adoption of energy efficiency technology and policies.
Starting today you will find a section titled Biomass in Numbers on the right-hand column. Here you will find blurbs and links to information that will help us better understand the true cost of energy poverty.
We launch this section today with the following study:
1. Indoor Air Pollution, Health and Economic Well-being. Feb. 2008. Esther Duflo, Michael Greenstone (MIT Dpt. of Economics) & Rema Hanna (NYU, School of Public Service). Not surprisingly, the study concludes there is a dearth of information on this issue.
Which is why we invite you to help us by submitting your own research!
As a reminder, some of the costs associated with energy poverty and the use of biomass are:
• Time spent gathering fuel
• Gender
• Environment
• Energy-efficiency
• Health
• Agricultural productivity
• Contribution to Climate Change
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