Wood Fuel in Nepal

Biomass is the major source of energy in Nepal. Wood fuel alone contributes about 85% of the total energy in the residential sector and the rest comes from other sources of energy. Annual consumption of biomass resources has increased by about 2.4% since the last decade. Consumption of commercial forms of energy is annually increasing by about 10%. On the whole, about 0.48 percent of the total gross energy production in the country is produced from renewable sources. The share of petroleum products is less than 10% of the total energy consumption. Though the country is rich in water resources, only about 1% of the economic potential of hydro power is harnessed so far. The contribution of electricity from the central grid system is around 2%. Industrial and commercial sectors use even less than 1% of their energy consumption derived from woodfuel resources. The effective price of LPG is quite low. Fuelwood becomes cheapest once it is available free of cost or less than NRs4 per kilogram.