MINISTRY OF ENERGY
HOUSEHOLD ENERGY IN GHANA
Energy Consumption Patterns in Ghana
The bulk of Ghana’s energy consumption is from biomass in the form of firewood
and charcoal and these together accounts for about 59 percent of total energy
consumption. Electricity and petroleum products account for 9% and 32%
respectively. Per capita energy consumption is estimated at 360 kilograms of oil
equivalent (koe). Energy consumption of Ghana is estimated at 6.6million TOE.
The household sector alone accounts for 52% of the total energy consumption in
2000. Household energy consumption is primary for cooking and lighting.
Household Energy for Cooking
About 67% (24,890 GWh/yr) of total energy consumption in the household is used
for cooking. Majority of households in Ghana use biomass as their main source of
fuel for cooking. Firewood and charcoal alone accounts for more than 93% of energy
used for cooking. LPG, Kerosene and Electricity use though cleaner,accounts for
only 4.1%, 1.1% and 0.4% respectively. The use of other fuels such as crop residues
and cowdung contributes about 1.4%.
In most households where firewood is the main cooking fuel, traditional tripod styled
stove or the 3-stone stove are used. This stove is inefficient, emits smoke into the
cooking environment and also blackens the cooking pot. Besides the heat radiation
form the stove is dangerous for children and pregnant women in particular.
Studies have shown that whilst the stove is highly inefficient, its level of smoke
emission into the cooking environment is detrimental to the health of the user mainly
women and children who are normally near where cooking take place. The result is a
high incidence of chest and respiratory diseases facing our women and children in
rural areas who use firewood for cooking.
This tripod styled device or the open fire stove used throughout the country is usually
easy to build and use but there are many cases where improvement could alleviate
some of the associated problems.
These problems can be grouped into 3 main
categories:
· Relatively high fuel consumption, which has negative consequences in the rural
areas where some more time, is spent collecting or buying firewood.
· Health and environmental dangers from smoke particles; difficulty sitting close to
the stove to cook due to heat transfer to the stove environment, etc.
· General inconvenience such as increased workload of women and children who
collect firewood,
Household Energy for Lighting
According to the Ghana Living Standards Survey-4, about 60% of all households in
the country (both urban and rural) still use kerosene for lighting. Grid electricity for
household lighting in Ghana accounts for only about 39%. Only 1% use candles,
generators and other sources.
The situation is worse in the rural areas where as much as 82% still use kerosene,
candles and other traditional fuels as sources of light. The share of grid electricity
accounts for only 17.1%. Generators, dry-cell and automotive batteries together
accounts for the remaining 0.9%.
-December 2003
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