How Good Is Good Enough? Cookstove Replacement Scenarios to Reach Indoor Air Goals

Air pollutants emitted by low-performing (i.e., high-polluting) cookstoves are estimated to cause 4 million premature deaths annually worldwide. High-performing cookstoves may mitigate health problems, but programs to disseminate these cleaner units have been plagued by incomplete adoption and often result in scenarios where both the old and new stoves are used simultaneously—so-called stove stacking. A new study in this issue of EHP examines just how much compliance is required in order to realize the benefits of cleaner technologies. The percentage of the global population using low-performing cookstoves dropped between 1980 and 2010, but absolute numbers have remained stable because of population growth. Approximately