Qualcomm, Nexleaf Analytics, the Energy and
Resources Institute, and the UK Department for International Development Collaborate
on a Mobile Application for Monitoring and Incentivizing the Use of Clean
Cookstoves in India
India, May 17, 2013: Qualcomm
Incorporated, through Qualcomm Wireless Reach™,
Nexleaf Analytics, in collaboration with the Energy and Resources Institute New
Delhi (TERI), Project Surya and the UK Department for International Development
(DFID), today announced that they have worked togetheron the development of
SootSwap, a mobile application for monitoring the use and incentivizing the
adoption of clean cooking technologies.
Approximately
three billion people depend on traditional cookstoves for their cooking needs. The
Global Burden of Disease Study 2010[1]estimates
that four million people die each year as a result of inhaling the smokeproduced
by cooking overthese open fires. Switching to clean-burning cookstoves can
reduce the amount of firewood used in open fires, as well as the amount ofsmoke
indoors and outdoors. This could lead to improved health for the women and
children who have shown to be the most exposed to the smoke.
At
a cost ofapproximately US$50 – US$100 (Rs. 2700–Rs. 5500) each, clean
cookstoves are currently unaffordable for the estimated three billion people
worldwide living on less than USD$2 a day.Registered carbon credit programs are
beginning to provide financial incentives for reducing carbon emissions through
the use of clean cookstoves. Estimates suggest that a family could earn enough money
selling carbon credits on the carbon market to directly financethe purchase
price of a clean cookstove within two to five years through a loan. However, it
is difficult and expensive to verify the reduction in carbon emissions produced
by clean cookstoves, making ita challenge to apply carbon credits to the use of
improved cooking technologies.
To
address this issue, the SootSwap system includes a mobile phone-based
temperature-sensing application and a thermal sensor that connects to a Brew™CDMA or Android phone. Each time the
cookstoveis fired up, the temperature increase activates the sensor. This
temperature data is then wirelessly uploaded from the cellphone to a server where
it is analyzed to indicate the number of times a stove is used and the duration
of each use, enabling remote verification of stove usage. This capability will
create an opportunity to make data available to carbon market investors as
proof of reduction in carbon emissions. Investors canthen purchase the
validated credits and transmit money directly to the families using the clean
cookstoves.
Over
the past three years,SootSwap has been tested and validated both in the
laboratory andthrough a pilot project involving more than 100 rural Indian
homes in villages around Jagdishpur, a town in Uttar Pradesh. In the next phase,
SootSwap will be used with Project Surya’s[2]
Climate Credit Pilot Project, known in India as C2P2. The pilot phase of the
initiativeaims to demonstrate the benefits of the adoption of clean cookstoves
in 2,000 households.Participating families will receive a clean
cookstovethrough bank financing and a mobile phone equipped with a temperature
sensor and the SootSwap application. Using these tools, familieswill be allowed
to link their reductions in black carbon emissions (made possible by the clean
cookstoves) to carbon credits. Black carbon is caused by the use of solid fuels
such as firewood, cow dung and crop residues and emissions from household
cooking fuels.
The
project collaborators hope that the potential for earnings will motivate more
families to use clean cookstoves and ultimately lead to the broad adoption of
clean cooking technologies.
Qualcomm
Wireless Reach understands the many ways advances in mobile technology have
already improved lives and it is working to enable even greater transformations
for a healthy environment. By working with organizations like Nexleaf Analytics
and TERI, Wireless Reach aims to leverage its capabilities in order to expand
the impact of mobile technology.
Project
Surya seeks to mitigate the regional impacts of global warming through
cleancooking and innovative sensing technologies.
Nexleaf
Analytics applies its field tested sensors and engineering data measurement
tools to advance the capabilities of ordinary mobile phonesto find low-cost
ways of making clean cooking easier and more accessible to families around the
world.
TERI,
with its head quarter
in New Delhi and regional offices throughout India and the world, is an independent, not-for-profit research
institute focused on energy, environment and sustainable development. TERI is strongly committed
to research, development and promotion of customized solutions for energy
access and livelihoods enhancement in rural areas.
DFID
leads the UK government’s fight against world poverty. It runs long-term
programmes to help stop the underlying causes of world poverty and responds to
humanitarian emergencies.
To
learn more about the SootSwap project, please download the case
study.
To
find out more about Qualcomm Wireless Reach visit: www.qualcomm.com/wirelessreach.
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