Improved Living Conditions

Improving Living Conditions

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2021) – “Clean Water and Sanitation”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/clean-water-sanitation’ [Online Resource]

Safe Water

Safe Water means
access to an improved water source on site, available when needed and free from contamination

2,200 million people do not have access to safe water

at least 2 billion people’s source of drinking water is contaminated with faeces

Basic services means not having to walk more than 15 minutes for clean water

785 million cannot even access this

144 million rely on water from untreated surface water like lakes, ponds, rivers and streams

(World Health Organisation)

Cookstoves

Around 2,600 million people cook using open fires or simple inefficient stoves

They use firewood, charcoal, animal dung, crop wastes, kerosene and coal

Improving stove efficiency reduces the fuel used – better burning also reduces smoke indoors

Nearly 4 million people will die prematurely this year from household air pollution

Almost 50% of pneumonia deaths in kids under 5 years are caused by breathing soot

(World Health Organisation)

Hannah Ritchie and Max Roser (2013) – “Indoor Air Pollution”. Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: ‘https://ourworldindata.org/indoor-air-pollution’ [Online Resource]

Cookstoves

Projects involve manufacturing and/or disseminating 1000’s of highly efficient cookstoves

Cookstoves can come in different sizes to help families and small to medium sized businesses

The cookstove may include a ceramic liner to increase combustion efficiency and retain heat

Some are 50% more fuel efficient than traditional methods

Replaces coal and other solid fuels (firewood, charcoal, dung, straw) for cooking and heating

Cookstoves reduce emissions, help curb deforestation and improve indoor air quality

They provide relief from high fuel costs, decrease the time and energy spent collecting fuel, cook faster and improve health by creating less indoor pollution

They help protect family members from burns and accidents common to open-air fires

Projects can contribute to gender equality and empowerment of women.  They provide ownership of a new asset, the stove

Safe Water (Borehole Rehabilitation)

Many rural areas are characterized by poor access to clean drinking water

Water sources (boreholes, wells etc) often suffer suffer micro-biological contamination and are polluted by salt

These projects are often small scale and involve the installation or rehabilitation of water supply and/or purification systems, typically solar powered

This removes the need to boil water using local fuels

Reduced demand for fuel lowers forest biomass removal, helping maintain biodiversity

Helps improve hygiene, social, economic and environmental issues

Reduced indoor air pollution improves health of people in the household

Water-borne diseases due to unsafe drinking water successfully addressed

Projects help raise hygiene awareness among local population

Safe Water (Filtration)

Point-of-use water filters treat contaminated drinking water

Microbiological purifier delivers clean drinking water

Requires no electricity or additional consumables beyond the unit itself

Removes the need to boil water using non-renewable biomass

Carbon finance is helping provide a significant improvement in public health

Avoids firewood and charcoal being burned, slowing deforestation and degradation

Reducing pressure on local forests helps maintain biodiversity

Reduced incidence of waterborne diseases, especially among under 5’s

Women and children spend less time gathering and carrying firewood

Improved indoor air quality from not burning firewood to heat water

Household Biogas

Households are provided with a biodigester, typically a fixed dome tank

The biodigester replaces the coal fired stoves that are used by rural households

Organic matter including manure and other wastes are decayed anaerobically (without oxygen)

This biological digestion produces methane which is then used for cooking

The recovery and use of the biogas reduces methane emissions from poor manure management practices

Replaces coal and other solid fuels (firewood, charcoal, dung, straw) for cooking and heating

Reduces expenditure on coal and other fuels, freeing up money for other uses

Increases employment for local people (construction and servicing of biodigesters)

Improves the living and cooking conditions for the household

Decreases indoor air pollution and helps improve the household’s health

Popularizes practical, appropriately-scaled energy technology

Solar Cookers

The solar cooker uses parabolic reflectors to gather sunlight for cooking

Generally composed of cooker body, pot rack, cooker rack and a tracking and adjusting mechanism

In the projects sold by Beyond Neutral, most of the rural households in the area use coal-fired stoves for water boiling and cooking

Solar cookers enable these rural households to partly and efficiently substitute solar energy for coal use

Replaces coal and other solid fuels (firewood, charcoal, dung, straw) for cooking and heating

No construction is required to use the solar cookers

Able to be produced domestically within the country

The lifetime of a solar cooker is at least 10 years

Consume less coal, spend less on fuel and lower fire risk from coal-fired stoves

Create no smoke so improve indoor air quality

Local jobs and training are created, people educated about solar energy technology

Buying carbon offsets from Beyond Neutral is easy