Since his spontaneous discovery of fire to make food more delicious, cleaner, and to ensure of good digestion as well as less diseases, man has experienced many periods to maintain fire: from identifying fuel sources to finding way of most saving use (due to economic conditions and exhausting traditional fuel sources), then to finding out how firing of too much fuel affects environment, changes the earth climate (exhausted air from cook stoves has account for at least 25% of human exhausted air volume), and recently, man has found out that the wrong use of fuel can create many serious diseases for himself.
According to statistics of the World Health Organization, there are annually more than 4.3 people die and hundreds of millions of people get diseases of hearth, lungs, eyes… in relation to exhausted air from household cook stoves using coal, wood, biomass (more than the dead total from HIV, malaria and pertussis). This is really a tremendous numbers, even higher than the number of victims from local wars every year on the world! That’s why the Global Alliance of Clean Cook stoves was established in 2010 under the sponsorship of the United States Department of State and the United Nations. This is the creative idea related to over 300 NGOs, funds, governments, enterprises, women organizations, universities, company leaders and UN organizations with a view to set up a market supplying comfortable and non-pollutant cook stoves to developing countries and with an ambition to provide 100 millions of cook stoves by 2020. The United States Department of State sponsored the Alliance with over 50 million USD and is calling for more donor of 500 million USD for research and development of clean cook stoves.
Through researches and assessments of scientists, fuels used for cooking are mainly from 2 sources: fossil fuels and biomass fuels. Fossil fuels not only are considered as the major energy source causing the green house effect but also emit the most dangerous kinds of exhausted air, typically pit coal. Biomass fuels are considered as recyclable fuels. However, in actual use, they have also been contributing to creating so many kinds of dangerous exhausted air to human mostly because of fuel firing in improper ways or not in ultimate ways, including: fuels are not dry enough; fuel sizes are not suitable for each cook stove; cook stoves do not have scientific design leading to over-supply or less-supply of oxygen to fuel combustion process, or to the inability to control heat loss. For such improper ways, cooking has not only fired fuel volumes more than as needed but also created much more exhausted air and dangerous air, seriously affecting environment and human health.
A clean and ideal cook stove must meet the following criteria: Use various kinds of biomass fuels; Provide enough oxygen (not more or less than as needed) to fuel combustion process; Have design suitable for heat creating and max heat loss control; Do not affect food tastes; Easy-to-use; Quick and easy control of temperature; Safe and free from fire, explosion, electric-shock; Most saving of fuel; Long time of firing to meet food processing needs of housewives; Compact, light and easy for repair; Cheap and affordable to everyone. Activities of researching, manufacturing and putting the above-mentioned clean and comfortable cookstoves into use demonstrate our science, reality, humanism, responsibilities and rights in the 21st century.
In conclusion, we would like to cite the saying of Ms. Hillary Clinton, one of US President candidates, among founders of the Global Alliance of Clean Cookstoves:
“When we start solving this challenge, we believe that: First, this is a health challenge. Second, this is an environment. But this is also a business opportunity following a proper approach.”
(Summarized by Nguyen Manh Ha)