EXHALE: Time to clear the air

About the project

This study focuses on the problem of indoor air pollution in urban slums in Bangalore, India.

The first step in the project was a qualitative study into the cooking practices, cultures and food-related beliefs in these communities. In the next step we developed, together with women in these communities and a local design company, alternative cooking stoves (chulhas) that align with the practices, culture and beliefs but also produce less pollution.

The result is a cookstove that is cheap and easy to produce locally, is more energy efficient and produces less pollution than the solutions people most often use. The next phase is an attempt to implement it at scale and evaluate its effect on pollution levels.

Two PhD students work on this project: Preeti Sushama and Cristian Ghergu.