An Effort to Reduce Indoor Air Pollution Through Paper and Power Project

ABSTRACT

Nepal is a mountainous and predominantly rural country. It is second largest country in the world having high potentiality for hydro-electricity generation. It has more than 6000 rivers from which 8300-megawatt hydroelectricity could be generated. But the present scenario is that very small portion of hydropower has been utilized in the county. Only around 30% of the total population of Nepal has access to electricity, most of which in the urban area. Another bitter fact is that only 3% of the rural population has access to the modern energy services. Extending electricity grid to all the rural area of country is very expensive and challenging too due to the adverse geographical condition. Thus, Nepal has to relay on non-renewable fossil fuels like petroleum, gas and coal and fuel wood to meet the energy need. This has resulted local and global environmental adverse impact due to CO2 emission and deforestation. Not only this hardly earned foreign currency of country is expensed to import petroleum gas and oil causing severe economic burden. Lekhani is a village located in the remote area of Baglung district of Nepal. The village lacks most of the major infrastructures like road, schools, and hospitals etc, which are essential for sustenance of life. A remote village like Lekhani would never imagine the nightlife with brightest light. The only and simple means of light for the village is ‘tuki’ light which uses kerosene and diyalo (burning bunch of firewood). These lamps produce black streamline of gases, which is enriched in CO2 gas. CO2 gas can contribute in several health problems like coughing, eye irritation, throat irritation, bronchitis and pneumonia, along with other problems like burning up clothes, children should be kept away from the lamp, it produces black smog within the room etc., ultimately contributing in the global climate change. There are presently 556 households residing in the Lekhani and Kadesh villages. And each household uses 5 liter of kerosene oil to light a lamp for a month. Each liter of Kerosene produces 2.6 Kg of CO2 gas. Himalayan Light Foundation (HLF), a non-governmental organization has launched model solar village electrification Demo Programme in the village under its Home Employment and Lighting Package (HELP) programme. The programme provides affordable solar electricity systems to the communities in conjunction with a skill-training programme, the tools to set up an income generating activity, handmade paper products. The solar electricity system extends the working day hours to produce the marketable paper products apart from agricultural pursuits. Thus, villagers’ life style have been enhanced by solar electrification systems contributing in the improvement in the indoor environment, economy, health, income generation by capacity building programme, hence making the local indigenous people self sufficient.

	AN EFFORT TO REDUCE INDOOR AIR POLLUTION THROUGH PAPER AND POWER PROJECT [.doc, 121.3Kb]
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