Bioenergy Strategies to Address Deforestation and Household Air Pollution in Western Kenya

Over 640 million people in Africa are expected to rely on solid-fuels for cooking by 2040. In Western Kenya, cooking inefficiently persists as a major cause of burden disease due to household air pollution. The Long-Range Energy Alternatives Planning (LEAP) system and the Life-Cycle Assessment tool Simapro 8.5 were applied for analyzing biomass strategies for the region. The calculation of the residential energy consumption and emissions was based on scientific reviews and original data from experimental studies. The research shows the effect of four biomass strategies on the reduction of wood fuel use and short-lived climate pollutant emissions. A Business As Usual scenario (BAU) considered the trends in energy use until 2035. Transition scenarios to Improved Cookstoves (ICS), Pellet-fired Gasifier Stoves (PGS) and Biogas Stoves (BGS) considered the transition to wood-logs, biomass pellets and biogas, respectively. An Integrated (INT) scenario evaluated a mix of the ICS, PGS and BGS. The study shows that, energy use will increase by 8% (BGS), 20% (INT), 26% (PGS), 42% (ICS) and 56% (BAU). The BGS has the lowest impact on global warming, particle formation, terrestrial acidification, fossil resource scarcity, water consumption, as well as on eutrophication followed by the PGS and INT.
Proceedings of the 27th European Biomass Conference and Exhibition, 27-30 May 2019, Lisbon, Portugal, pp. 1536-1542