Rural Household Energy Use and Thermal Environment in Three Climatic Regions of Nepal

Abstract

Nepal is a mountainous country with low energy use so far and its climatic patterns remarkably differ from one place to another due to its geographical variation. In the north summer is cool and winter severe, while in the south summer is tropical and winter is mild. Indoor thermal environment and household energy use of residential buildings are in general very much associated so that there have been guide a lot of research; however, there has not been sufficient number of such studies focusing on Nepal. In this study, we aim to analyze the current situation of household energy use and indoor thermal environment of residential buildings in three different ecological regions of Nepal. This study was carried out in mountain, hill and terai regions representing cold, temperate and sub-tropical climate in Nepal from 21st December, 2017 to 20th January, 2018. Indoor and outdoor air temperature and humidity were measured by electronic sensors with the help of data logger for every 10-minute interval from 5 households from each region. The mass of firewood used was also measured at those houses. Household energy-use data of 516 houses were collected by the method of questionnaire survey. We found that mean indoor temperature was 3.6°C, 9.4°C and 19.0°C in cold, temperate and sub-tropical regions respectively. Based on this field study, we concluded that firewood is the primary source of household energy for cooking. The present finding suggests that an intensive and extensive improvements of the indoor thermal environment together with rationalization of energy use must be important especially for winter seasons.