In general, per capita final energy consumption is lower in mountain areas when compared with country averages. On the other hand, the percentage of per capita energy consumption coming from fuelwood is substantially higher in the HKH region than in the respective countries. In India, for instance, fuelwood accounts for 66 per cent of the energy use in the HKH region compared to 47 per cent in the country as a whole (Rijal, 1999). This reflects the fact that mountain regions are marginalized in terms of access to commercial fuels, which makes them heavily dependent on fuelwood. This situation is worsened by the low level of efficiency in fuel utilization, which may also lead to health hazards, particularly affecting women who are the managers, producers and users of energy at the household level.

Cooking and heating are the main household energy uses in the HKH region, and a variety of traditional cooking and heating stoves fired with fuelwood is used among households. In mountain areas, demands are greater for space heating than cooking, if a comparison is made in terms of useful energy requirements. A typical example is that of Nepal where, 32 per cent of the useful energy required by the household sector in the mountains is used for cooking and 56 per cent for heating, compared with 40 per cent for cooking and 36 per cent for heating in the hill areas (Rijal, 1999). Lighting energy needs are met by kerosene and electricity, but electricity is not available in many parts of the mountains.

The energy needs of cottage industries (such as agro-processing, charcoal pro­duction, potteries, bakeries, blacksmiths, sawmills, carpenters’ shop and village workshop) include requirements for lighting, process heat and motive power. In general, the process heat requirements in facilities such as forges, potteries, and bakeries are met with fuelwood, although coal is also used extensively in the HKH region of China. Motive power requirements are met by electricity, diesel and kerosene where available, or else by human or animal labor using mechanical equipment. The use of fuelwood is widespread in agro-based facilities such as those for crop drying. The bulk of energy inputs for land preparation, cultivation, postharvest processing, and agriculture-related transport are in the form of human and animal labor. The degree of mechanization and use of commercial fuels in the mountain areas is generally low.

The pattern of energy use in the HKH region is characterized by the following (Rijal, 1999):

• Biomass dominates as a fuel, with fuelwood being the main source of energy;

• The household sector is a major consumer of energy (see Table 5.1);

• Energy demand is increasing as the result of agricultural diversification and intensification, rural industrialization, and increasing tourism;

• Energy use in mountain households varies with the household size, altitude, ethnic group, income and expenditure, land holding, livestock holding, and number of cooking stoves employed;

• The requirement for heat energy, primarily for cooking and heating, is higher than that for energy for shaft power as input to production processes;

• The demand for fuelwood exceeds the sustainable supply, and thus the process of destruction is a common phenomenon in large parts of the region;

• The cost of energy extraction is increasing;

• The availability of fuelwood is decreasing and the time taken for its collection is increasing;

• Continuous unsustainable use of fuelwood from the forest forces rural people to use alternative biomass fuels, degrading the environment even further; and

• Availability and access to energy technologies are improving, but not enough yet to show a reduction in human drudgery (particularly of women).

Various studies have shown that there is a tendency for fuelwood energy use to decline as GNP increases (FAO-RWEDP, 1997; Ramana, 1998; Rijal, 1999). Figure 5.1 illustrates fuel preferences in relation to income, as well as the effects of fuelwood scarcity. Truly, mountain households with increased income tend to switch from fuelwood to other fuels such as kerosene, electricity or gas. However, if the more convenient alternatives are not available or if the supply is not reliable (which is common in the mountain areas), they may refrain from the upgrade. Likewise, where fuelwood is scarce, people may downgrade to lower quality fuels.

There are no readily available substitutes for fuelwood in rural mountains, but there is a clear potential for promoting energy-saving devices in these areas. However, low affordability among local populations definitely limits the dissemina­tion of these technological options. As a result, low useful energy utilization is the

rule in mountain areas, with usually less than 20 per cent energy efficiency (see also Table 5.2). Fuelwood is currently collected in the slack season at no cost other than the time and labor involved. Given widespread unemployment, the opportunity cost for the time of unskilled labor is lower than the price of fuelwood. This means that wood is likely to remain the dominant fuel in the mountains in the foreseeable future.

Traditional cooking and heating devices are prevalent in most of the mountain areas, but a variety of modern cooking and heating stoves, biomass briquettes, and gasifiers fired with fuelwood are being promoted in some selected mountain areas to aim at different end uses such as motive power, cooking, heating and lighting (see also Table 5.2). These actions still need to be supplemented with the promotion of private sector participation in technology development, institution building, and research and development.