STOVES AND SMOG IN UGANDA

The biomass and charcoal stoves are in use in Uganda. Recently, I had been to Uganda to attend PCIA Forum 2009 at Kampala. I could see various types of stoves. The smog in Uganda is very high especially during the evenings, may be because of the pollution throughout the day and also from the cook stoves. Many colonies are in haze. Because of high altitude of kampala the convection currents are not so intense to carry all the smoke to high altitudes and disperse the smoke / air pollutants. The improper production of the charcoal from the wood also contributes to lots of smoke into the atmosphere. We see many charcoal stoves are in use especially in the urban areas. This is very pertinent because one could see stoves as a product in most of the hardware shops. There is huge potential to improve / introduce efficient stoves in Uganda with efficiencies from 30 to 40 percent.