National energy statistics seldom include information about traditional energy consumption with comparable level of details as those for commercial or conventional energy sources. Because of the difficulties associated with wood energy data collection and the decentralized nature of wood energy systems (Bhatia, 1985 and Ramani et al., 1995), wood energy consumption is not regularly monitored in the same way as that of conventional or commercial energy sources. But the large proportion of rural population and the significant contribution of agriculture in the economies of the countries under study (coupled with the low national income) indicate a still important role for traditional energy sources (fuelwood and charcoal, agricultural residues, and animal dung).

Figure 3.1

Figure 3.2

Reliable statistical data on wood energy have been obtained only from household energy consumption surveys and wood energy studies. However, most of these surveys and studies are necessarily limited in scope both in terms of the area and type of information covered. Few household energy consumption surveys are national in scope and produce comprehensive detailed information. But national household energy consumption surveys could not be conducted on a more frequent or regular basis because of the time and money involved.

Published national energy balance tables are also useful in getting an overall picture of the role of wood energy in national energy systems and in making cross-country comparisons. The latter, however, has to be done with a lot of caution because of differences in wood energy definitions and measurements among countries. For example, not all countries use the same energy unit and care should be exercised from converting from one unit to another because each country could be using different conversion factors. Some countries, moreover, may deliberately lump all biomass fuels under fuelwood because the other biomass fuels may be taking up a small portion of total energy. In addition, available data may not coincide in timing preventing more precise comparisons.

Table 3.4: Energy Indicators

Household energy consumption surveys that are national in scope have been conducted for India (NCAER, 1979), Pakistan (UNDP, 1993), and the Philippines (UNDP, 1992).

It was also found out that the proportion of households using firewood logs increased to about 56% from 35%, while those using firewood twigs slightly declined to 63% from 68% (Figure 3.4).

While total fuelwood consumption in rural areas increased both in relative and absolute terms, urban fuelwood consumption declined from 16.5 million tonnes in 1978-79 to 9.5 million tonnes in 1985. The decrease is explained by the shift to modern fuels, in particular LPG and kerosene, which had steady growth in sales during this period.

Pakistan. The household energy consumption survey in Pakistan (UNDP, 1993) show that households accounted for 53%, equivalent to almost 994.2 petajoules (PJ), of total final energy consumption in 1991. Seventy-nine percent (79%) of all households used fuelwood which accounted for around 53% of total household energy use (Table 3.5). All biomass fuels contributed a total of 86%. The average annual fuelwood consumption per household was estimated at 2,324.4 kilograms (kg).

Note: "Others" include coal/softcoke, kerosene, and other unspecified fuels. Coal and kerosene are converted to PJ from physical units, while the other unspecified fuels which are expressed in tons of coal replacement are converted to PJ using the conversion factor for hard coal.

Source of basic data: Natarajan (1995)

 

Figure 3.4

Charcoal was used by only 9.2% of households in Pakistan and accounted for less than one percent of total household energy consumption.

The contribution of fuelwood in rural household energy consumption at 58% was significantly higher than in urban areas where the figure dropped to 38%. Around 30% of household energy requirements in urban Pakistan were met by natural gas. In rural areas, animal dung and agricultural residues accounted for 37% of household energy consumption.

Philippines. Based on a similar survey conducted in 1989 (UNDP, 1992), fuelwood and charcoal accounted for 68% and 11%, respectively, of total household fuel consumption in the Philippines that was just half that of Pakistan, or 497.7 PJ (Table 3.6).

The share of fuelwood in household energy consumption was higher in rural areas (82%) which accounted for 72% of total household energy consumption.

Table 3.5: Pakistan Household Energy Consumption by Fuel and by Area (in PJ)

Table 3.7 also shows the proportion of households using each fuel. The data indicate that most households were using more than one type of fuel, particularly electricity, kerosene, fuelwood, and, to some extent, crop residues. Data also show that kerosene and electricity were the closest substitutes of fuelwood nationwide. In fact, in rural areas almost the same number of households was using kerosene and fuelwood. In urban areas, most households were using electricity, kerosene, and LPG.

Table 3.6: Estimated Household Fuel Consumption, 1989, Philippines

Table 3.7: Percent of Households Using Each Fuel, Philippines

Wood energy consumption data are also scattered in energy studies conducted mostly for or by national and international agencies. The results of some of these studies are as follows:

• Cambodia’s Ministry of Industry, Mines, and Energy compiled sources of energy information for the country and has come up with a comprehensive national energy statistics (MIME, 1996). According to this study, 92% of Cambodia’s households use fuelwood (Table 3.9), so that fuelwood accounts for 83% of total final energy consumption.

• Ramani et al. (1993) reveal that only 22% of total biomass fuels consumed by households in Bangladesh are fuelwood. Nevertheless, more than 80% of fuelwood consumed still go to households.

• Down (1983), in a household energy consumption survey conducted for West Sumatra (Indonesia), shows that fuelwood supplies almost the entire cooking energy requirement in the area.

• Fuelwood also provides almost all the energy for cooking in the households of Sri Lanka (MLFD, 1986).

• A study made for Thailand shows that 92% of rural households energy needs are met by biomass fuels (Chantavorapap, 1993). An earlier study indicates that, of this, almost 60% are accounted for by fuelwood (FAO, 1986). Charcoal provides another 30%. Another study, however, shows that charcoal supplies up to 65% of rural household energy requirements, more than fuelwood (UNDP, 1989). In fact, this same study indicates that in all of Thailand, charcoal accounts for 57% of total household energy consumption.

• The Ministry of Planning of Maldives estimates, based on the 1990 Census, that 93% of households in Atolls (rural Maldives) use fuelwood, mainly for cooking, while kerosene is the more popular fuel in Male (urban Maldives), used by 64% of urban households. Only 20% of the households in urban Maldives use fuelwood. Gas and electricity are also used to some extent.

While the above-mentioned household energy consumption surveys and studies reveal many data gaps and lack of uniformity in the available information, some patterns can be observed:

Fuelwood appears in the national energy balance tables of all countries except China and India (see Table 3.8). The information derived from national energy balance tables give broad but reasonable indications as to the significance of fuelwood in meeting national energy requirements. To summarize, Table 3.8 shows that:

• households continue to be the biggest energy consuming sector in many countries;

• the contribution of fuelwood to total final energy consumption may vary over a wide range (from 1.5% to 85.3%) but its share in household energy consumption has remained well above 50% in many countries;

• households account for the bulk of fuelwood consumption, but non-household fuelwood consumption could be significant in some countries; and

• fuelwood accounts for a large portion of all biomass fuels consumed, but the share of agriculture residues and animal dung are also significant in some countries.