The U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) is working to improve global accessibility for household cooking with ethanol, a clean burning fuel that can improve community and environmental health. Photo credit: USGBC.
Around the world, an estimated 2.8 billion people cook with toxic fuels like wood, dung and charcoal that can cause respiratory illnesses, heart problems and other complications at an annual cost of three million deaths annually.
Greenhouse gas emissions from these fuels also create a gigaton of carbon dioxide each year, while wood harvesting and charcoal demand are devastating forests.
Cleaner burning fuels, like ethanol, are a solution that can reduce the human and environmental dangers of these traditional energy sources and the U.S. Grains & BioProducts Council (USGBC) is actively developing awareness of ethanol’s potential among international policymakers and consumers.
“Building healthier populations affordably is something we can all get behind, and ethanol is an option that protects the health of communities and the environment when it is made accessible, both in terms of cost and availability, particularly in emerging economies,” said Alicia Koch, USGBC director of global ethanol export development.
“Reforms to promote clean-burning ethanol and targets for ethanol as a proportion of the energy mix can help unlock ethanol’s benefits in clean cooking, improving lives and creating solid demand for U.S. ethanol producers in a wide range of markets.”
The Council is engaged with global partners to increase awareness and education about how ethanol can be implemented in household cooking and will be releasing an informative video for stakeholder use later this year.
Read more from USGBC here.