Fuel Use in Bhutan
The information on the type of fuels people use for various purposes is very important, both from environmental as well as health policy perspectives. The survey collected information on the types of fuels people use for cooking food and heating dwellings. Electricity is the most commonly used fuel for cooking for majority of the population (53.41%) followed by LPG (26.26%), and wood (19.59%).
For over 98 percent of the urban population, the most commonly used fuel for cooking is either electricity or LPG, while only about 70 percent of rural residents use the same. On the other hand, as expected, substantially higher proportion of rural residents (27.96%) reported wood as the most commonly used fuel for cooking compared to their urban counterparts (1.51%).
Among Dzongkhags, for over one thirds of population in Gasa, Samdrup Jongkhar, Pema Gatshel, and Samtse, the most commonly used fuel for cooking is wood. On the other hand, less than 10 percent of the residents of Thimphu, Paro, Punakha, Wangdue Phodrang, and Haa reported wood as their most commonly used fuel for cooking.
For heating dwellings, wood is the most commonly used fuel for most of the population (52.65%) followed by electricity (20.89%). About 24 percent of the population reported that they don’t heat their dwellings.
Over 70 percent of rural residents reported that wood is the most commonly used fuel for heating dwellings against just 15 percent of urban residents. On the other hand, about 49 percent of urban residents reported electricity as the most commonly used fuel for heating dwellings as against just eight percent of the rural residents.
The information on most commonly used fuel for heating dwellings by Dzongkhag is presented in the Table 91. It is interesting to observe that, comparatively, a higher proportion of population living in relatively urbanised Dzongkhags like Thimphu, Chukha, and Paro reported electricity as the most commonly used fuel for heating dwellings. And as expected, most people in warmer Dzongkhags like Sarpang (85.49%), Samtse (63.61%), and Samdrup Jongkhar (41.57%) reported not heating the dwellings at all.
Source: A Compass Towards a Just and Harmonious Society, 2015 Survey