Traditional household fuels play a vital role in Ethiopia. They account for more than 93%rnof the householdsâ€™ energy need of the country which is mainly based on wood, dung andrncrop residues. The most widely used stove is an open fire that is believed to be highlyrninefficient. Today many of the people of Ethiopia are facing a deepening crisis of energyrnscarcity because local wood resources are depleted and even more distant forests are cutrndown. The implications of this crisis extend beyond the supply of energy itself. This hasrnresulted in massive deforestation, loss of agricultural productivity, loss of biodiversity,rnchange in hydrologic cycle, etc in many parts of the country. Based on these facts,rnexperimental and field survey methods have been employed in this study to investigaternthe thermal efficiency of frequently used charcoal stoves, fuel efficiency of both charcoalrnand injera baking biomass stoves and fuel consumption pattern of the study area.rnThe experimental method employed water boiling and controlled cooking test approaches.rnThe water boiling test was carried out to investigate the thermal efficiency of charcoalrnstoves and the controlled cooking test was carried out to assess the fuel efficiency of bothrncharcoal stoves and injera baking stoves. The results of the test indicated that there is arnwide thermal efficiency gap among the charcoal stoves. The potential fuel saving of thernmost efficient charcoal stove over the lowest efficient charcoal stove is about 39%.rnSimilarly the thermal efficiency gap is also observed among the various types of Lakechrnstoves. The thermal efficiency gap between the most efficient and the least efficientrnstoves is nearly 5 in percent. Concerning injera baking stoves, Mirt stove has a betterrnperformance over three stones stove. The difference in fuel wood consumption betweenrnthem is about 70 gm per injera. With the average number of injera baked per session inrnthe study area, and if Mirt stove is to be disseminated to 50% of the households, then it isrnestimated that about 273.2 hectare of forest cover would be saved every year.rnHousehold survey was carried out in order to assess the utilization frequency of noninjerarnbaking stoves, preferences of households for various types of Lakech stove, Fuelrnconsumption patterns of the study area, Mirt stove production level and Factorsrn9rncontrolling the dissemination of Mirt stove. From the survey result it is observed thatrnurban households of the study area have three to four types of non-injera cooking stoves.rnThe most widely used ones are kerosene stoves and Lakech stoves. Among the variousrntypes of Lakech, Lakech Without Pan Seat is widely used by the community. The mainrnreasons for their preferences are fuel saving and speed in the order of importance.rnHowever, the reasons given by the community contradicts the experimental finding. Thernexperimental results indicate that Lakech Without Pan Seat is the lowest thermal efficientrnstove compared to the others. This use of thermally inefficient use of arisen from the lackrnof awareness among the society about the thermal efficiency of the stoves.rnIn the study area, currently, Mirt stove is produced by three trained local producers. Itrnhas been observed that the stove has a high economic benefit for the producers as well asrnfor the customers. The community in the study area has adequate awareness about thernstove. The main source of their awareness was information obtained from friends andrnrelatives. However, still the coverage of the stove is very low. It is about 1.5% in ruralrnareas and 5.6% in the urban areas. The main reasons are lack of proper kitchens in thernurban area and unavailability of the stove in the rural areas. The major factor for thernunavailability of the stove in rural areas is probably to weakness in the disseminationrnability of the responsible organizations.rnThe most frequently used fuel types for non-injera cooking activities in the urban areasrnare kerosene, charcoal and electricity. But due to rising price of kerosene and highrnincrement in electric tariff, people in the study area have started to shift to biomass fuelrnwhich could intensify environmental problems. Concerning injera baking, the mostrnwidely used fuel type both in the urban and in the rural areas is dung which is supposedrnto be used for the restoration of soil fertility