Nguyen Hong Phuc, an AIT environmental engineering and management (EEM) graduate student, won the paper titled “Assessment of Air Quality and Climate Co-benefit for Residential Combustion Sector in the Red River Delta, Vietnam".

In the paper, written along with his advisor Dr. Nguyen Thi Kim Oanh, Phuc also found evidence that reducing indoor air pollutants led to the positive result of increased air quality at local levels and decreased emissions of greenhouses gases at the global scale.

This finding was achieved through a device set up to monitor how much carbon dioxide equivalent could be reduced in the defined rural locality, and through a survey, he said.

By studying one area in the Red River region, he was able to identify what kind of fuel or mix of fuels was the most environmentally suitable. Phuc proposed a combination of rice-straw and liquefied petroleum gas as the best option for the future.

Around 70% of Vietnam’s population live in rural areas. It is estimated that about a third of Vietnam’s energy consumption is from traditional biomass and waste, and nearly 60% of the biomass is consumed by households, mainly in the countryside.