Cleaner Hearths, Better Homes: New Stoves for India and the Developing World

Cleaner Hearths, Better Homes: New Stoves for India and the Developing World has a twofold goal: describing India’s best legacy improved biomass stove programs and recommending ways in which the international community can promote stoves that are commercially viable, convenient for users, and more energy efficient. By implication, there also would be a reduction of indoor air pollution to more reasonable levels than is common today. To date, the effectiveness of many of the world’s stove programs has been hindered by their small scale. Even India’s best case examples faced serious challenges. But hard-learned lessons from these cases, combined with varied experience from stove programs around the world, can well serve the international development community’s efforts to address the energy problems faced by the poorest populations on our planet.