Bangladesh introduces improved stove to save fuel

[jpak]

http://www.reuters.com/article/scienceNews/idUSDHA22297820080413

DHAKA (Reuters) - Bangladesh has introduced an improved cooking stove that will consume 50 percent less of the biomass used for cooking in rural areas, a senior official said on Sunday.

"About 95 percent of Bangladesh, with 145 million people, uses traditional fuels like cow dung, agricultural wastage and wood totalling 60 million tonnes most inefficiently, worth 100 billion taka ($1.46 billion)," said Erich Otto Gomm, program coordinator in Bangladesh of German Technical Cooperation (GTZ).

The ministry of Power, Energy and Mineral Resources, with the financial and technical assistance of the German Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, through GTZ, introduced an environmentally friendly stove that also saves biomass by more than 50 percent, he said.

"Poorly ventilated clay stoves that produce smoke, carbon monoxide and carcinogens pose a serious health threat to women and children," Erich told a news conference.

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[kestrel91316]

1. Little things like this can make a HUGE difference for the poorest of the poor.

[NickB79]

2. Does it double as a personal flotation device?

Because they're gonna need it when the ice sheets start breaking up.