Household Energy for Improved Health & Livelihoods

Some three billion people worldwide burn solid fuels for cooking and heating in open fires or traditional stoves. The resulting household air pollution causes over four million premature deaths annually and a range of chronic and acute health complications. Inefficient cookstoves also place pressures on ecosystems and forests, and contribute to climate change through greenhouse gas and black carbon emissions. For over 10 years, Winrock has worked with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA), the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the World Bank, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves and others to increase the use of clean, efficient, affordable, reliable and safe home cooking and heating practices in developing countries around the world, though locally appropriate, comprehensive and scalable interventions.