Improving health and access to affordable energy for Indian communities
Around 170 million Indian households cook over smoky, open-wood fires that produce indoor air pollution, causing an estimated 875,000 deaths annually in India alone. On top of this, recent studies have determined that such open-fire cooking creates more black carbon than the worlds cars and trucks combined.
To learn more about the Sustainable Development Goals verified by the standard for this project, please check the project's registry link above.
The BioLite HomeStove project distributes improved cooking stoves to households lacking reliable electricity access in the Indian States of Odisha, Assam and Rajasthan. The HomeStoves cut toxic indoor emissions by 90% and run on local biomass sources such as crop residue or cow manure. This halves the amount of fuel needed for cooking, saving time for women and girls who are otherwise tasked with collecting woodfuel from nearby forests. While cooking, the ultra-clean burning HomeStoves also generate reliable, on-demand electricity for households.
The BioLite cookstoves greatly reduce indoor pollution, improving household health, and women have time to pursue economic and other opportunities as they spend less time collecting fuelwood. The HomeStoves also provide reliable, affordable electricity to households, and local staff in India are employed to manage project operations, such as stove importation and distribution relationships further boosting economies and ameliorating regional poverty.
