News

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) and other hydrocarbon products continue to save lives and could save many more if made available to more people.

What Is Liquefied Petroleum Gas?

The United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) defines LPG as “…hydrocarbon gases, primarily propane … derived from crude oil refining or natural gas processing”. According to the European LPG Association (AEGPL) LPG has “literally thousands of uses in the home, in commercial business, in industry, on the farm and for transportation”.

Familiar to many campers who have used LPG products such as Coleman fluid for light and fuel, LPG is the primary fuel source for cooking, lighting, and heating in many parts of the world. Unfortunately not enough people have access to these lifesaving hydrocarbons.

Problems With Traditional Solid Fuel

According to the World LPG Association (WLPGA) “The survival of three billion people or close to half of the world’s population (41%) depends of cooking with polluting solid fuels (e.g. wood, dung, crop waste, coal and charcoal)”. Because primarily poor rural women and their children are therefore exposed to high levels of household air pollution as a result, many women and children die early deaths because they cannot access clean-burning LPG. The WLPGA says that in 2012 4.3 million premature deaths were attributed to exposure to this kind of pollution, equivalent to one person dying every eight minutes. 13%, or over 500,000, were children under five years of age.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO) Global Burden of Disease project (GBD), smoke from solid cookfuel is the fourth most important risk factor impacting global health, just below smoking and just above alcohol.

How LPG Can Help

According to a peer reviewed article in the International Forum for Respiratory Research journal Inhalation Toxicology, clean fuel stoves when fully adopted can dramatically reduce household air pollution and thereby View Full Article