The study was conducted by School of Engineering & Applied Science, Washington University in St. Louis. "Our project findings quantitatively show that particulate emissions from cookstoves in India have been underestimated," said Rajan Chakrabarty, assistant professor at Washington University. "Traditional cookstove burning is one of the largest sources of pollutants in India. We found it's a really big problem; this is revising what people knew for decades," he added.
"We went in with some real advanced instruments to map out detailed information on the emissions," said Pratim Biswas, the Lucy and Stanley Lopata Professor and chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental & Chemical Engineering. "We also used low cost sensors that we developed. A large number of these could be simultaneously deployed to provide information on the spread of the plume. It's not about taking a single reading.
"This then allows us to eventually determine the regions of hot spots and what locations would have high concentrations," he said. "This detailed characterization of the situation is very critical, and that can only happen in the field. We can't be doing it here in the lab."
While further investigation is needed to evaluate the exact effect of cook stove emissions on the climate and health, the researchers suggest that their work lays the foundation for further improving the process by which those effects are evaluated and measured. The scientists say that the newly developed low-cost pollution sensor can allow to eventually determine the regions of hot spots and locations that would have high concentrations of emissions.
With Inputs from IANS
Can Sleeping In Save Your Heart? Study Shows 20% Risk Reduction France Takes Action Against Screen Addiction With Smartphone Ban In Schools Nutritionist Reveals Drinking Green Tea Can Help Avoid Hunger Pangs Throughout Day Manipur Chief Minister Slams Tejashwi Yadav Over "Racist" Jab At Himanta Sarma On CCTV, Cops Seen Planting Drugs On Man In Mumbai, Suspended After Probe US Millionaire, Who Died By Suicide, Owed $34 Million With $8,000 In Bank After Land Invasion And Death From Above, A New Enemy In Gaza - Polio Celebrated "Russian Spy" Whale Hvaldimir Found Dead In Norway: Report Israeli Army Announces Death Of Soldier During Ongoing Raid In West Bank Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.