Utilization Of Biomass Based Renewable Energy Source Implications For Climate Compatible Development In Wolaita Ethiopia

Biomass energy source has been the major source of cooking energy for major segment ofrnEthiopian population for thousands of years. To investigate household energy consumption patternrnof biomass energy sources and the biomass energy quality and safety of technology (wood-stoves)rnin respect to climatecal, socio-economical and environmental benefits in the wolaita zone. Arncommunity based cross-sectional study was conducted employing both quantitative and qualitativernapproaches on systematically selected 138 households for quantitative and purposively selectedrn110 people for qualitative parts. Descriptive statistical method and qualitative analysis were used asrnmethodological tools. Moreover, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was fitted to assess possiblernassociations and its strength was measured using odds ratio at 95percentCI.The study indicatedrnthat 99.93perrcent of households still use biomass energy for cooking. More than 15 percent ofrnhouseholds collect tree biomass from their own homestead forests while 79 percent of householdsrnacquire their biomass energy through purchase from neighbors’ market and remaining 6 percentrnof household both collect and purchase. Testing reveals that quantity of firewood consumption by highrnincome households was significantly higher than that of medium income and low income categoryrnhouseholds. Those who were less knowledgeable about negative health and environmental effects ofrntraditional utilization of biomass energy sources were 5.11 and 3.58 times more likely to utilizernthem compared with those who were knowledgeable. The most outstanding finding of this studyrnwas that households use traditional biomass energy for cooking mainly due to lack of thernknowledge and their beliefs about food prepared using biomass energy. Although 13% householdsrnwere using improved cooking stoves (ICS), mass motivation and subsidized ICS can increase theirrnuses. Therefore, mechanisms should be planned to promote modern energy and to teach the publicrnabout health, and environmental as well as climate effects of traditional way of utilization ofrnbiomass based renewable energy source. Along with reforestation programs government may takerninitiative for climate compatible development from ICS programs on household energy markets asrnpart of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).rnKeywords: Biomass, firewood, cooking stove, reforestation

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