This award supports the participation of American researchers, junior researchers, and graduate students in a U.S. - ASEAN workshop on next generation cook stoves for rural East and Southeast Asia to be held at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Pathumthani, Thailand from November 16-20, 2009. This workshop is jointly sponsored by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Air Force Office of Science Research?s Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development (AFOSR/AOARD). The co-organizers are Dr. Kirk Smith at the University of California, Berkeley and Dr. Kim Oanh in the School of Environment at the Asian Institute of Technology. The workshop will also involve researchers and graduate students from many Southeast Asian countries. It is anticipated that these researchers will develop collaborations to apply modern scientific theory and practice to developing better household stoves and other small-scale combustion devices. Although such devices do not comprise a large part of global energy demand, they are responsible for more ill-health than any other category of energy use globally ? far exceeding that from vehicles and power plants combined. This is due not only to their highly inefficient combustion, which for traditional technologies leads to substantial emissions of products of incomplete combustion, including a range of health-damaging pollutants, but also because their proximity to the population leads to high intake fractions, i.e., exposure per unit emissions. In addition many of these same products of incomplete combustion (which include methane and black carbon) are important greenhouse pollutants. The poor combustion and heat-transfer of traditional technologies also leads to unnecessary waste of the primary fuel supplies, largely wood and crop residues.
Emphasized at the workshop will be development of joint research not only to develop advanced combustion stoves with low emissions and high energy efficiency, but also to explore the potential for joint production of space/water heating and small-scale electrical power generation. In addition, the workshop will explore the potential for appropriate and innovative sensor technology for in situ evaluation of cook stove performance (e.g., reduction of indoor air pollution and black carbon emissions and improvement in combustion efficiency). Laboratory or simulated measurements are insufficient to assess how well such devices operate in real households over time, but a number of IT-based sensors and processing platforms offer the possibility for cost-effective assessment, even remotely over large populations. Finally, the workshop will engage practitioners in stove dissemination who have dealt with industrial engineering challenges related to materials quality, manufacturing efficiency, and consumer behavior and perceptions. This collaboration will provide an excellent opportunity for the U.S. junior researchers and graduate students to receive a global research experience. It is anticipated that this award will provide the basis for their continuing contacts with their Southeast Asia colleagues throughout their research careers.
