Reverse Innovation to Protect Health and Climate: Advances in Cleaner Biomass Combustion for Household Energy in the Developing and Developed World

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nordica maccarty
Event Speaker
Nordica MacCarty
Event Type
Faculty Lecture Series
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Event Description

Biomass energy is the oldest form of solar energy storage, and can be a renewable, local, affordable, low-carbon fuel if harvested sustainably and burned cleanly. Today nearly 40% of the world relies on woody fuels as their primary source of energy, with the majority using rudimentary three-stone fires for cooking and heating. Here at home, approximately 7.8 million Americans are using uncertified, polluting wood stoves to heat their homes. Both of these applications lead to health-related concerns about air quality and contributions to climate change, and many policymakers are pushing a shift away from wood for this reason. However, wood and other biomass can and should remain in the low-carbon energy mix, especially for low-income and rural users – the key is learning how to burn it more cleanly. This talk highlights how innovations generated to meet the stringent emissions targets for biomass cookstoves in the developing world are now being applied to biomass heating in the US through a multidisciplinary, multi-organizational effort led by Oregon State University and supported by the US Department of Energy and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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