COVER STORY— October 2017
8
Wide World of Indoor Environments
Current International Trends Becoming a Thrilling & Agonizing Occupation
By Susan Valenti Corliss
speaker like Dr. Prasad Modak
of Indian Institute of Technolo-
gy in Bombay about the lack
of indoor air standards, little
awareness of problems among
consumers, and the continued
use of wood-burning stoves in
homes.
It's those same wood-
burning stoves that have
dominated the indoor health
headlines inter-
nationally for
more than five
years. And as
fast as the research
can be published, there are new products being introduced
to the consumer market.
This month, EPA just published their list of certi-
fied wood stoves at www.epa.gov/compliance/list-epa-
certified-wood-stoves. While the agency oversees stoves
for businesses and consumers in the U.S., it is also a leading
researcher worldwide for stove emissions and the asthma
issues created by them.
The energy company BioLite is now selling the Camp-
Stove and HomeStove (www.bioliteenergy.com/products/
campstove-2) in the U.S., Kenya, and Uganda. The prod-
ucts create a smokeless fire using no charcoal or liquid fu-
els to operate, just wood. BioLite claims the stove reduces
smoke by 90 percent, which could have a major impact the
health of users.
North Carolina State University published new research
late this summer finding that advanced wood-burning
stoves designed for use in the developing world can reduce
air pollution more than anticipated, because gaseous emis-
sions from traditional wood stoves form more particulate
matter in the atmosphere than researchers had thought.
W
e spend a lot of time here at
Healthy Indoors focusing on
what's happening indoor environ-
ment-wise in the U.S., sometimes
broadening our focus to Canada,
Mexico, the islands, and even the
United Kingdom. But as we grow
as a publication, we're finding the field (and our reach) is
becoming more global every day.
The thrill of new practices and research trends in places
like India, Asia, and the European Union is often juxtaposed
with the agonizingly slow process of putting policy or best
indoor environmental practices to good use for businesses
and consumers. For every awesome news release about
the work being done by the new India chapter at Indoor
Air Quality Association (IAQA), there's a presentation by a
