Usage and impacts of the Envirofit HM-5000 cookstove.

Burning solid fuels to fulfill daily household energy needs results in chronic exposure to household air pollution (HAP), which is among the world's greatest health risks. This paper presents the results of a cross-sectional study of cookstove usage, fuel consumption, and indoor PM concentrations in rural and urban Honduran homes cooking with the Envirofit HM-5000 metal plancha stove (n = 32) as compared to control households using baseline cooking technologies (n = 33). Temperature-based stove usage measurements showed high HM-5000 acceptance, with significant displacement of the traditional cookstoves at both the urban (99%, P < .05) and rural study sites (75%, P < .05). However, longer-term usage data collected in peri-urban households showed that participants cooked on the HM-5000 more frequently during the 3-day monitoring period than during the following 3 weeks. Average indoor PM was 66% lower in HM-5000 households as compared to control households (P < .05). Lower indoor PM concentrations observed in participant homes as compared to control households, supported by high usage and traditional stove displacement, suggest the potential for the HM-5000 to yield health improvements in adopting Honduran households.