Environmental impact of rice husk briquette fuel use in Bangladesh: A case study of Mymensingh

The rice husk briquette fuel option is found to be the most environment friendly in the study area compared to wood fuel, natural gas and kerosene. The annual saving of CO
2
is found to be 16.42×10
³
tonne by using 100% briquette fuel instead of 100% wood fuel (non-sustainable source) in the study area that would be US$197.04 ×10
³
worth annually. The cost of CO
2
reduction is found to be −0.77 US$/ton that reveals, no additional cost is incurred due to the replacement of wood fuel stove by briquette fuel stove system. The sensitivity analysis expressed that the economic viability affected by the performance of rice husk briquette fuel over wood fuel (i.e. wood : briquette ratio) and the price variation. It is found that the rice husk briquette fuel option is viable up to wood: briquette ratio of 1.12 and variation in price of briquette up to 48%, if the additional cost incurred is reimbursed by the return from CO
2
at a trade value of US$12.00/ton of CO
2
.