CAREER: From the kitchen to the clouds: research and teaching on the emission and evolution of aerosols from household energy use by the global poor

1351721

Grieshop

This project aims to help solve a challenging problem that impacts at scales from personal to global: the human health and global climate impacts of indoor biofuel use by the poor, nationally and internationally. This problem-oriented research is inherently interdisciplinary and uses engineering, aerosol science, education and outreach activities to achieve robust and sustainable outcomes.

The central question is: What do we need to know to constrain uncertainties in the impacts of emissions from current and future biofuel burning practices, make good decisions and avoid unexpected outcomes?

The following goals define the scope of the program:

1) Explore how combustion conditions and atmospheric influences dictate the 'aging' of aerosol emissions from biofuel burning, and thus their effects on air quality and climate;

2) Bridge lab and field measurements and develop currently lacking approaches to simulate real-world emission and aging processes that control the net impacts of various stove and fuel types;

3) Cooperatively develop and deploy a simple approach to assess stoves in households during new technology roll-out, support monitoring efforts and reduce uncertainty in large-scale emission estimates; and,

4) Engage students from high school to graduate levels and international partners in hands-on learning and research activities to develop skills, excitement and interest in environmental engineering and science.

Primitive biofuel use for household energy has massive impacts on human health and the global climate. Indoor biofuel use kills millions each year, and this and other biomass burning are a dominant source of black carbon aerosols and other species with strong impacts on the global climate system and regional air quality worldwide, and possibly even the quality of sources of water used for drinking water. Therefore, reducing emissions from household biofuel burning has rightfully garnered recent attention as a means to provide both enormous global health and climate benefits. However, the actual impacts of current practices and improvements associated with 'improved' stoves are both highly uncertain due to limited scientific understanding and the complexities associated with actual stove use and performance. Real-world biofuel burning emission rates and characteristics are not recreated in the lab, hampering the development of effective technologies. Fundamental scientific uncertainties stem from the dynamic nature of biomass burning emissions, which continually evolve (That is these emissions age with time and change in their composition) via complex atmospheric chemistry. Aging of emissions forms secondary organic aerosols, which may fully or partially counteract the warming impacts of the emitted BC through direct (shortwave scattering) and indirect (cloud) climate effects. Thus, aging may dictate the air quality impacts of biofuel burning emissions and whether they have net warming or cooling climate effects.

This project endeavors to build fundamental understanding of biofuel combustion emissions and how they evolve in the atmosphere, and will bridge the gap between the laboratory and household settings. The resulting knowledge and tools will support the activities of those developing and monitoring new stoves. Insights into the aging of all biomass burning emissions and inputs into global and regional models will be used to understand our current atmosphere and anticipate the benefits or impacts of different development scenarios.

The results of this research will be widely disseminated via publications, presentations at scientific meetings and other, less formal means. A key outcome of the work will be the training of several undergraduate and graduate environmental engineers, and giving them direct experience with the complex, interdisciplinary questions associated with meeting the grand challenges of universal energy provision and environmental sustainability.

In addition, this program will help build the links between my the University and the Upward Bound program at North Carolina State University, and thus to rural North Carolinian youth who aspire to be the first in their families to earn college degrees. In the end, this project will have impacts far beyond the lab and scholarly arenas by engaging high school students and international implementation partners in the research.