COMPARISON OF THE POLLUTANT LEVELS EMITTED BY DIFFERENT FUELS USED FOR COOKING AND THEIR INFLUENCES ON GLOBAL WARMING

Global warming is one of the most worrying environmental problems nowadays. A joint effort has been made by many countries to minimize greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, responsible for global warming. The evidences indicate that global warming is occurring due to anthropogenic activities, mainly caused by the using of fossil or biomass fuels. Although this effect is more directly associated with external emissions, domestic emissions also have their contributions. In this way, cooking activities can have an impact on global warming, since the main fuels used for these purposes are from fossil or biomass origin. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the most common fuels used for cooking in Brazil on global warming. Among the fuels studied and the data available to date, biogas, followed by natural gas and liquefied petroleum gas were the least polluting, even the latter two being derived from petroleum and currently considered the great villain of air pollution. The results also show that although LPG is the most used fuel (> 90%) in Brazil for cooking, firewood, which accounts for only 3% of consumption, causes the highest emission rates of greenhouse gases. Therefore, more efficient stoves can have a significant impact on the GHG reductions in the country.

Keywords:
global warming; greenhouse gases; cooking fuels; indoor pollution; firewood