The Executive Director of the Energy Institute, Colorado State University in the United States, Dr. Bryan Wilson says about four point three million people die in the world annually as a result of smoke from cook stoves.
This according to him is more than the number of deaths resulting from AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis put together.
Dr. Bryan Wilson stated this while speaking to journalists on the topic – ‘’Research and Innovation in Energy’’, at a virtual reporting tour on combating the climate crisis, organized by the Washington Foreign Press Center, USA.
According to Dr Wilson, “the biggest energy issues we have globally is cooking. Half of the world’s population still cooks on solid fuels – wood, dung and crop residues.”
Dr. Willson who addressed the meeting from the Powerhouse Energy Campus in Colorado, recommended the use of clean cook stoves, massively produced by companies such as Envirofit International and being made available in emerging markets as well as in developing countries.
He further urged various countries to work towards the use of wind and renewable energy sources.
Dr. Willson who said that coal was still used in the United States, however revealed that plans were on to rapidly shut down several coal-fired plants in Colorado, but with consideration of energy justice.
“If an area is traditionally mined and used coal and you’ve shut that down and replaced it with renewable, then there is some obligation of society to replace the livelihood or retrain those people for new careers, so that their lives aren’t economically disrupted.” He added.