GREENHOUSE GASES FROM BIOMASS AND FOSSIL-FUEL STOVES IN DEVELOPING-COUNTRIES - A MANILA PILOT-STUDY

Samples were taken of the combustion gases released by household cookstoves in Manila, Philippines. In a total of 24 samples, 14 cookstoves were tested. These were fueled by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), kerosene (three kinds of stoves), charcoal, and wood. Ambient samples were also taken. All samples were analyzed for CO2, CO, CH4, N2O, and total non-methane organic compounds (TNMOC). Results generally confirm increasing emissions for most products of incomplete combustion moving down the ''energy ladder'' from gaseous to liquid to processed solid to unprocessed solid fuels. Although the sample size and number of background samples were too small to give great confidence in the results, extrapolation of the emission ratios (each gas relative to CO2) to global estimates indicates that published global inventories of several gases important in atmospheric chemistry may be somewhat too small for the fuelwood combustion category. When weighted by global warming potentials, the greenhouse impact of the emissions of non-CO2 greenhouse gases from wood combustion may rival or exceed those from CO2 alone. If verified, this could have substantial implications for energy and environmental policies in developing countries. These tentative findings indicate that more measurements of this type in developing countries would be justified.