Firewood continues to be a preferred form of energy consumption in Bhutanese households. As per the government report, about 91 percent of energy demand for cooking and heating is met from use of bio-fuels and other conventional resources.
On an average a household consumed about 25 kilogrammes of firewood every day, making Bhutan one of the highest consumers of firewood in the world. This was four years ago and now experts say the number would have gone up with more demand for energy services.
Now, one of the interventions to meet this demand and lessen the stress on natural resources included a promotion of bio-gas project, which is not only energy efficient but also economically benefitting.
About 1,600 bio-gas plants will have been constructed by 2014 in few selected Dzongkhags.
Asides, the health sciences also reveal over exposure to the indoor air pollution through use of firewood for cooking and heating increases the health risks. “There are lots of villagers in the ward who are now coming with COPD who have never smoked in their lives, that is because they have been exposed to indoor air pollutants through use of bio-fuels,” said Dr. Tashi Wangdi, Medical Specialist of the Thimphu National Referral Hospital.
As per the World Health Organisation more than one million people die a year from chronic obstructive respiratory disease because of exposure to such indoor air pollution. And the risk is more in women and children who spend most of their time in the kitchen.
