6.1.1. Household applications
Most households in developing countries that use biomass fuels
today do so largely because it is available at low (or zero) financial
cost or because they lack access to or cannot afford higher quality
fuels. Improvements in wood and charcoal stoves over the past
couple of decades have allowed households to cook with biomass
more efficiently, more cleanly and with greater convenience. Still,
as incomes rise, households invariably choose to consume more
of higher quality fuels such as kerosene, liquified petroleum gas,
natural gas, and electricity [48,49]. This shift is associated with the
quality of the energy carrier utilized rather than with the primary
energy source itself. Gaseous cooking fuels can be used far more
efficiently and conveniently than solid fuels, while also emitting
far fewer toxic pollutants. Thus, by efficiently converting a given
amount of biomass into a cooking gas, more households can meet
their cooking demands than by burning the biomass directly, and
detrimental health impacts are greatly reduced.
Two gases that can be made from biomass at small scale for cooking
are “producer gas”, via a simple high-temperature process and
biogas, via low temperature anaerobic fermentation. Producer gas
generators are being installed today in many villages of Shandong
Province, China, to convert corn stalks into cooking gas supplied