Fuel usage Concentration and exposures Health effects Global health damage Fuel usage Traditional fuels play a vital role in the developing world. More than 2 billion people rely on them to meet the majority of their energy needs and obtaining these fuels from the same natural environment on which they depend for food and fodder.
Traditional fuels are the dominant source of energy in the developing world.
Concentration and exposure Concentrations of indoor pollutants in households that burn traditional fuels are alarming. Peak levels during cooking may exceed these levels by a further factor of 5 or so. Unfortunately, little monitoring has been done in rural and poor urban indoor environments in a manner that is statistically rigorous. The rest of the discussion here is restricted to particulate matter, because sufficient data are not available on other pollutants and also because particulate matter is one of the most common and harmful pollutants. A few micro-levels studies have attempted to measure total exposure levels in communities that use biofuels.