Abstract:
In many developing countries, household energy consumption causes tremendous damage to the
environment and human health. The main energy source in urban communities in Ethiopia and
elsewhere in developing countries is biomass fuel consisting of wood, charcoal, leaves, and
agricultural residues. The variation on their consumption pattern may have significant
environmental and socio-economic impacts. Hence, the aim of the current study is to determine
the household energy consumption pattern and its socio-economic and environmental implication
in Nekemte town. A cross sectional survey was conducted from July 8–14, 2013 on 415
households systematically selected from 6 sub-cities of the Town. A questionnaire involving
households‘ fuel use, conversion facilities and socio-demographic factors were used to collect
the information. The study revealed that the common household energy sources used for cooking
were biomass fuels, kerosene and electricity. About 61% of the household uses biomass energy
for basic cooking Injera services and almost all households use electrical energy for lighting
except during the blackout. Availability of firewood, lack of own electric connection, assumption
that firewood is less costly were identified as factors affecting the level electricity of cooking.
Annually about 20 thousand tons of biomass of which 10128 tons firewood and 3527tons
charcoal) are used in the town, implies that about 1200 hectares of forest is lost and 25483 tons
of CO2-e is emitted to the atmosphere. It can be concluded that availability of electricity does not
guarantee the availability for cooking and other factors needs to be considered
