Grantee Research Project Results
2016 Progress Report: Improving Air Quality, Health and the Environment Through Household Energy Interventions in the Tibetan Plateau
EPA Grant Number: R835422Title: Improving Air Quality, Health and the Environment Through Household Energy Interventions in the Tibetan Plateau
Investigators: Baumgartner, Jill , Schauer, James J. , Wiedinmyer, Christine , Paradis, Gilles , Ezzati, Majid , Yang, Xudong
Institution: University of Minnesota , University of Wisconsin - Madison , Tsinghua University , McGill University , Imperial College , National Center for Atmospheric Research
Current Institution: University of Minnesota , McGill University , National Center for Atmospheric Research , Tsinghua University , University of Wisconsin - Madison
EPA Project Officer: Keating, Terry
Project Period: September 1, 2013 through August 31, 2016 (Extended to August 31, 2018)
Project Period Covered by this Report: September 1, 2015 through August 31,2016
Project Amount: $1,489,361
RFA: Measurements and Modeling for Quantifying Air Quality and Climatic Impacts of Residential Biomass or Coal Combustion for Cooking, Heating, and Lighting (2012) RFA Text | Recipients Lists
Research Category: Air Quality and Air Toxics , Climate Change , Tribal Environmental Health Research , Air
Objective:
The overall objective of this research is to develop tools to quantify the benefits of interventions for household use of solid fuels on air quality, climate change mitigation, and human health and to demonstrate these tools to a novel energy innovation program in the Tibetan Plateau. This goal will be achieved by integrating emissions and exposure measurements with a Chinese government–sponsored solid fuel intervention program that addresses cookstoves, heating stoves, and residential fuel, and applying these measurements to regional climate models and a health intervention study to quantify health and climate mitigation benefits of the intervention. The study will demonstrate a framework to quantify the benefits of real-world interventions and policies aimed at reducing household solid fuel emissions. The project will leverage an existing intervention program led by Tsinghua University to replace traditional fuels and stoves in 200 rural homes in the Tibetan Plateau. The project will integrate expertise of the project team members to quantify the reduction in emissions and exposures and cardiovascular impacts of the intervention, and to estimate the impact of larger scale interventions on regional climate. The study results and their interpretation will be disseminated to policy makers and other relevant environmental and public health stakeholder groups.
Progress Summary:
The progress during this period focuses on the implementation of the intervention into 125 of our 204 study homes; post-intervention measurements of stove use, air pollution and health; continued laboratory analysis of air pollution samples; and the analysis and publication of data resulting from this study. Specifically, the following research tasks have been conducted:
(1) In addition to existing and graduate trainees, we hired two postdoctoral fellows (NCAR/McGill), a graduate student (McGill) and several part-time undergraduate research assistants (McGill) to work on the project. All trainees had the opportunity to spend time at the field site in China and attend at least one collaborator research meeting in Beijing, Wisconsin, or Colorado.
(2) We finalized the analysis of baseline measurements of air pollution and health.
(3) We collected post-intervention environmental data in winter (sub-set) and summer, including emissions measurements from traditional stoves and semi-gasifier stoves.
(4) We completed pilot chemical analysis of baseline air pollution samples and started analysis of post-intervention air pollution samples for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), black carbon, elemental carbon, organic carbon, NOx, and CO with initial summaries of results.
(5) We collected and analyzed data on intervention uptake and use over time.
(6) We developed air quality models in WRF-Chem to estimate the air pollution and health impacts of heating versus cooking.
(7) We held multiple investigator research meetings in Beijing, Wisconsin, and Colorado, which included participation from groups of project principal investigators and their trainees to discuss preliminary results and plan future analyses and manuscripts.
Future Activities:
The first post-intervention winter season was cut short due to a delay in the intervention dissemination to homes. Thus, we plan to carry out an additional season of winter measurements that captures a larger number of homes in winter 2016/17. We anticipate publishing peer-reviewed articles that focus on the post-intervention analysis of air pollution exposures, kitchen/ambient concentrations and related health impacts in the Tibetan Plateau. Larger scale chemical and biological analysis of air pollution samples will happen alongside the epidemiologic studies to provide additional insights into the toxicity of particulate matter. We also plan to continue modeling of emissions and air quality from cooking and heating and its climate/health impacts in China. The principal investigators and their trainees will continue to meet regularly to discuss preliminary findings and potential future analyses.
Journal Articles on this Report : 6 Displayed | Download in RIS Format
| Other project views: | All 42 publications | 18 publications in selected types | All 18 journal articles |
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Archer-Nicholls S, Carter E, Kumar R, Xiao Q, Liu Y, Forstad J, Forouzanfar MH, Cohen A, Brauer M, Baumgartner J, Wiedinmyer C. The regional impacts of cooking and heating emissions on ambient air quality and disease burden in China. Environmental Science & Technology 2016;50(17):9416-9423. |
R835422 (2016) |
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Carter E, Archer-Nicholls S, Ni K, Lai AM, Niu H, Secrest MH, Sauer SM, Schauer JJ, Ezzati M, Wiedinmyer C, Yang X, Baumgartner J. Seasonal and diurnal air pollution from residential cooking and space heating in the eastern Tibetan Plateau. Environmental Science & Technology 2016;50(15):8353-8361. |
R835422 (2016) |
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Clark S, Carter E, Shan M, Ni K, Niu H, Tsing JTW, Pattanayak SK, Jeuland M, Schauer JJ, Ezzati M, Wiedinmyer C, Yang X, Baumgartner J. Adoption and use of a semi-gasifier cooking and water heating stove and fuel intervention in the Tibetan Plateau, China. Environmental Research Letters 2017;12(7):075004. |
R835422 (2016) |
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Ezzati M, Baumgartner JC. Household energy and health: where next for research and practice? The Lancet 2017;389(10065):130-132. |
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Ni K, Carter E, Schauer JJ, Ezzati M, Zhang Y, Niu H, Lai AM, Shan M, Wang Y, Yang X, Baumgartner J. Seasonal variation in outdoor, indoor, and personal air pollution exposures of women using traditional wood stoves in the Tibetan Plateau: baseline assessment for an energy intervention study. Environment International 2016;94:449-457. |
R835422 (2016) |
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Secrest MH, Schauer JJ, Carter EM, Lai AM, Wang Y, Shan M, Yang X, Zhang Y, Baumgartner J. The oxidative potential of PM2.5 exposures from indoor and outdoor sources in rural China. Science of the Total Environment 2016;571:1477-1489. |
R835422 (2016) |
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Supplemental Keywords:
air quality, biomass, black carbon, China, energy use, environmental chemistry, exposure, household air pollution, human health, interventions, particulates, regional climateProgress and Final Reports:
Original AbstractThe perspectives, information and conclusions conveyed in research project abstracts, progress reports, final reports, journal abstracts and journal publications convey the viewpoints of the principal investigator and may not represent the views and policies of ORD and EPA. Conclusions drawn by the principal investigators have not been reviewed by the Agency.