A study on household energy-use patterns in rural, semi-urban and urban areas of Nepal based on field survey

Abstract

Energy use is required for securing a certain living standard. Availability of energy sources, electricity in particular, is the basic requirement for the quality of living. The rationality of household energy use is not only for improving individual living conditions, but also for the economic growth of a nation. To formulate the national energy strategy plan, it is important to know the current energy use and availability conditions. This study describes the current state of household energy use available from related papers and also from a field survey on household energy use including electricity use. We have collected the data in the form of electricity bills, family income, family size, the number of electric appliances, and energy use for lighting, cooking, heating and cooling from 442 households in Kalikot, Chitwan and Kathmandu districts of Nepal. The monthly rate of firewood use was found 2.08 GJ/household/month in rural areas, which is quite higher than other developing countries. The average electricity use of all areas in Nepal was 2.06 GJ/household/year, which is quite low compared to developed and even other developing countries. The electricity is used mainly for lighting purpose in the rural area, while it was also used to run other electric appliances in semi-urban and urban areas. By analyzing the data, it was found that the amount of electricity use was a function of household income level, occupation, family size and educational level of household responsible person. The educational level of people was correlated to the use of light-emitting diode lamps. The result of this series of survey should be useful for future planning of household energy management in the Nepalese society.