FOREST RESIDUES CONSUMPTION BY HOUSEHOLDS IN LARGE URBAN CENTERS IN BRAZIL: AN OVERVIEW

The traditional use of biomass is still the reality in the world. In 2019 the traditional use of biomass represented 6.5% in total final energy consumption and the modern bioenergy was 5.1% in the world. The modern use of biomass involves the use of advanced and efficient technological processes such as liquid biofuels, production of briquettes and pellets, cogeneration from sustainably sourced biomass and the traditional use of biomass involves inefficient processes of biomass transformation as burning with low technology and use of non-sustainable biomass. In Brazil, the use of firewood as residential fuel has been increasing since 2018 and is currently the second most used source in the residential sector. This is due to the change in the cooking gas price policy that took place in 2017, increasing the price of this fuel, and this combined with the covid pandemic made many families in vulnerable economic situations replace cooking gas with firewood and others kind of the waste and materials. The burning of firewood and other materials in improvised stoves, inefficient with low technology, exposes these families, mostly women and children, the smoke, causing various types of diseases and domestic accidents. In addition, the increase in the use of firewood as fuel causes regression to the fulfilment of the Sustainable Development Goals-SDGs, in particular to goal 7 that calls for “affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all” by 2030. This paper aims to present is compiling data and technical information about the use of the forest residues consumption by households in large urban centres in Brazil. © 2022, ETA-Florence Renewable Energies., All rights reserved.

Household pollution and COVID-19: irrelevant association?

Evidence supports the link between air pollution and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Therefore, exposure to indoor pollution (IDP) is likely to be associated with the disease. The poor, refugees, and migrant workers who live in feeble conditions are the most vulnerable. The pandemic has caused many people to remain indoors, especially at-risk individuals (e.g., the elderly, diabetics, obese, cardiac, and chronic lung disease patients). Home isolation may be an underlying factor to other health problems among these populations if the place where they are socially isolating is not adequately ventilated. Therefore, understanding the consequences of the relationship between IDP and the COVID-19 pandemic is essential.