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MCEN 4228 Sustainable Energy Jeffrey Ballard Nepal General Geography Name Long form: Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal Capital: Kathmundu Current Party in Office: Maoist - Communist President: Ram Baran Yadav Prime Minister: Baburam Bhattarai Legal System: English common law with Hindu concepts Currency: Nepalese Rupee Total Area: 147,181 km^2 (95th) Latitudes: 26°22'-30°27' N Longitudes: 80°04'-88°12' E The Flag of Nepal, adopted on December 16, 1962. Its crimson red color is a symbol for victory in war and is color of the national flower, the rhododendron. The Blue Border Symbolizes Peace Nepal is found in South Asia, landlocked between China and India Population Economy Population: 29,890,676 (41st) (July 2012 est.) Population Growth Rate: 1.768% (67th) (July 2012 est.) Birth Rate: 21.85 births/1000 (78th) (2012 est.) Death Rate: 6.75 deaths/1000 (144th) (2012 est.) Life Expectancy: 66.51 years (161st) GDP: $38.08 billion (102nd) (2011 est.) GDP per capita: $1,300 (204th) GDP growth: 3.5% (109th) (2011 est.) Exchange Rate: 86.93 NPR to USD (9/16/12) Inflation rate: 8.6% (2011) Revenues: $3.9 billion Expenditures: $5.3 billion Taxes: 21% GDP Unemployment rate: 46% (191th) (2008 est.) Population below Poverty Line: 30.9% GDP by sector: %34 agriculture, 15% industry, %50.1 services Labor Force: 18 million (33rd) Labor Division: 75% agriculture, 7% industry, 18% service The Age Distribution of Nepal: Nepal has a very young population with a median age of 21.2 (175th) Education Expenditures: 4.6% GDP Culture and Education Energy Literacy: 60.3% (73% Male, 48.3% Female) Education Expenditures: 4.6% GDP Religions: 80.6% Hindu, 10% Buddhist, 4.6% Muslim, 3.6% Kirant, 0.9% Other (2001 Consensus) Energy Use by Type: Biomass Petroleum products Hydro Power Coal 87 % 8% 2.5 % 2% Energy Use by Sector: A picture from outside a Buddist Monastary Total Energy Consumption: 111 Billion kWh (2008/2009) Electricity Consumption: 4.833 Billion kWh (113th) (2010 est.) Electricity Generation: 3.156 Billion kWh (129th) (2010 est.) Oil Consumption (per day): 18,430 (132nd) (2012) Oil Production (per day): 0 (95th) (2012) Coal Production (Short Tons): 18,000 (57th) (2010) Coal Consumption (Short Tons): 357,000 (74th) (2010) Carbon Dioxide Emissions (Metric Tons): 3,259,000 (137th) (2010) History Modern (1950-present) In 1951 the long standing Rana hegemony ended in Nepal with the institution of a cabinet system of government. However, the government still acted as an absolute monarchy as King Mahendra instituted a party-less panchayat system in 1959. A truly democratic style of government was instituted in 1990 when King Birendra was forced by the "Jan Andolan" (People's Movement)to reform the constitution and establish a multiparty parliament. In 1996, the Maoist (communist) party started a violent revolution to replace the royal parliament system with a people's socialist republic. This violent move instigated a long Napali civil war that resulted in more than 12,000 deaths. In 2006, the democratic people's movement forced King Gyanendra to relinquish sovereign power to the people. In December 2007 Nepal became a federal republic. The Maoist leader Prachanda was elected to the position of prime minister of Nepal on August 15, 2008 but resigned on May 4, 2009 due to conflicts in sacking the Army chief. Since Prachanda there have been two more prime ministers. The country has remained in political deadlock and has not been at peace. Geography and Climate Landscape Nepal has an incredibly diverse landscape. The Himalayas run through the north of the country. Consequently the north has an alpine climate. There are 240 peaks over 20,000 ft in Nepal including the highest peak in the world, Mt. Everest at 29,029 ft (8,848 meters). The south hill region, known as the Pahad varies from 800-4000 meters (2,625 to 13,123 feet) and is largely subtropical in climate. Nepal's landscape includes hill lands and mountains Forest Nepal contains a substantial amount of forest, about 27.3% of its land area. While a quarter of the forest is heavily degraded, and forest cover was shown to have decreased at a rate of 1.8% annually between 1990 and 2000, many studies show an increase in the number of trees due to advances in community forestry. Precipitation and Temperature Average rainfall varies widely over Nepal due to its diverse Geography but most of the rainfall comes during the monsoon season (June-September) and most regions experience an annual rainfall between 1500mm and 2500mm. As can be seen by the maps the northern mountainous region becomes cooler and more arid. As air from the south-west rise over the Himalayas, driven by the jet stream, it becomes cooler forcing the water in the air to condense and precipitate into the mountain valleys. The windward side of Annapurna mountain range is the wettest region in Nepal receiving up to 5500mm annually. A map of Nepal's annual precipitation by region in 2011 It is clear from the monthly temperature and rainfall chart that Nepal experiences 4 seasons. The coldest temperatures are recorded November through January, with the average temperature over those 3 months being less than 5 degrees Celsius. The winter is also relatively dry. The hottest temperatures are experienced between May and August, with a wet monsoon season arriving in June, the month with the most precipitation. A map of Nepal's average monthly temperature and rainfall A map of Nepal's average annual temperatures by region from 1971-2010 Wind Nepal is a mountainous country with many river corridors that channel wind. Unfortunately Nepal's wind has not been thoroughly investigated, as Nepal only has 29 functioning meteorology stations many of which provide discontinuous data. These are run by the Weather in Kathmandu Nepal Department of Hydrology and Avg High Meteorology. These stations only first Wet Avg Wind Wind Avg Avg Avg Relative Avg Min Avg Max Days Sunlight Speed Speed Days started collecting data in 1967. Month Temp Precip Humid Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Dec Total Temp(°C) Temp(°C) 1 3 7 11 15 19 20 19 18 12 7 2 11.2 18 21 24 28 30 29 28 28 28 27 23 20 25.3 (°C) (mm) (>0.1 mm) Hours/ Day (%) 9.5 12 16 20 23 24 24 23.5 23 20 15 11 18.4 7 16 36 52 99 198 378 345 168 37 5 2 1343 1 5 2 6 10 15 21 20 12 4 1 <1 97 7.2 9 8.4 7.7 7.4 6.2 4.4 5.1 4.4 8.1 8.1 8.1 7.0 79 71 61 53 57 73 81 83 82 79 85 80 74 (m/s) (Vept 2011) 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 1 2 (m/s) (Vept 2011) 5 26 8 9 9 7 6 6 7 6 5 5 26 with Frost 11 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 19 Sunlight Nepal experiences a lot of sunlight a year, with the most hours of sunlight being during the winter, as storms are more frequent in the summer. Unfortunately, due to the absence of good data and the presence of only 15 meteorology stations, it is difficult to present good solar data for Nepal. Kathmandu's Climate Katmandu is located in the northwest part of the Kathmandu valley at 1350 m (4430 ft) above sea level. The city covers 50.67 km^2 and as part of the Kathmandu valley and has a warm temperate climate. Energy Nepal is in an energy crisis, as less than 44% of the population has access to electricity. The electricity demand is Nepal is too high for its current energy infrastructure which results in load shedding Most of Nepa w (government mandated times of no electricity usage). In the absence of electricity, the majority of Nepal relies on biomass for its energy needs (mostly cooking at this time). While Nepal does not have any known deposits of coal or oil, Nepal has great potential for hydroelectric power with its mountainous terrain and decent rainfall. Nepal's government has shown great interest in renewable energy, particularly wind, solar and electric. It is clearly in the nation's interest to increase its energy infrastructure but unfortunately political and economic difficulties have greatly decreased the effectiveness of various governmental plans to develop these technologies and utilize them. Fossil Fuels Nepal does not contain any oil or natural gas reserves and has an estimated 1.10 million short tons of coal according to the EIA. Considering that the amount of coal produced in the United States in 2011 was 1094.3 million short tons, Nepal’s fossil fuel reserves are sparse and even if they were developed, would not be sustainable for any length of time. Nepal must rely on other nations for fossil fuels. Hydroelectric Current estimates show that between 66 potential sites, Nepal could produce 44,000 MW of hydroelectric power. However due to political conditions and civil war, hydroelectric projects have failed to start in Nepal and the country is currently only harnessing about 1% of its hydroelectric potential. A view of the Seti River, one of Nepal's many rivers that has potential for electric plants The Nepalese government has created a number of 5 year plans featuring hydroelectric power. Hydroelectric power, if sufficiently developed has the potential to relieve some Nepal's disparity, since it is such a rich resource for the nation. Along with Bhutan, Nepal has the most hydroelectric power potential in Southern Asia. Unfortunately these plans have failed to be efficacious and have largely failed under political and economic stress. Despite these failures, Nepal's current government has again emphasized hydroelectric power and seems intent on bringing it about. The government launched $275mil initiative in 2011 to produce an extra 2500MW of electricity within 5 years. If Nepal could harness its hydroelectric potential it is likely that it would be able to export some of the energy to India, which is looking for sustainable energy solutions for its growing population. China also shows interest in Nepal's hydroelectric resources. The Nepalese parliament signed an agreement with China's Three Gorges International Corp in February 2012, allowing the Chinese to build a 750 MW hydroelectric plant on the Seti. It will be called the West Seti Dam. Three Gorges maintains a 75% stake in the project to Nepal's 25%. Solar With an average of over 300 sunny days a year, Nepal has excellent solar energy potential. According to a 2008 study by NREL, an estimated 53,270MW (466,643,167MWh/year) could be provided by solar energy which places Nepal 89th on the list for solar potential. Other than this study by NREL there is not much solar data collected for Nepal due to a lack of meteorology stations. Kathmandu records, on average, more than 300 sunny days a year Wind With the country's mountainous corridors there is high potential for wind energy. A good wind profile of Nepal is not currently known, however, so it is hard to accurately estimate how much however, according to a 1990 report by NREL, Nepal has about 7606 km^2 of area that has class 3-7 wind at 50m. References 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. CIA - The World Factbook: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/np.html SARI/Energy: http://www.sari-energy.org/pagefiles/countries/nepal_energy_detail.asp Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nepal, and other related articles Hydropower in Nepal: http://www.ippan.org.np/HPinNepal.html Climate at Himalayan Mart: http://www.himalayanmart.com/climate_nepal/climate_nepal.php Energy Wiki: https://energypedia.info/index.php/Nepal_Country_Situation#National_level Food and Agriculture of the United Nations: http://www.fao.org US department of State: http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5283.htm Nepal Monitor: http://www.nepalmonitor.com/2009/01/fdi_in_nepals_hydropower.html United Nations Development Program: http://www.undp.org.np/environment--energy/program/rerl-126.html Reuters: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/02/nepal-china-dam-idUSL3E8F25U420120402 China Dialogue: http://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4070 BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12846672 Guardian: http://www.guardian.co.uk/global-development/poverty-matters/2010/dec/10/cancun-climatechange-conference-energy-access 15. Photo from Saraogit World Travels: http://www.saraogitravels.com/client/index.php?action=showcategorydetails&cid=75 16. Nepal Department of Meteorology and Hydrology: http://www.dhm.gov.np/dpc 17. Kathmandu Data: http://sdwebx.worldbank.org/climateportal/index.cfm?page=country_historical_climate&ThisRegion=Asia&This CCode=NPL 18. Nepal’s Climate:http://www.nepal.climatemps.com/ 19. Wind Intensity Measurement: http://www.wind.arch.t-kougei.ac.jp/APECWW/Report/2010/Nepala.pdf 20. Open Energy Info Solar Irradiance: http://en.openei.org/datasets/node/724 21. Sari Nepal Energy Overview Slideshow: http://www.sarienergy.org/PageFiles/What_We_Do/activities/Maldives_Transitioning_South_Asian_Energy_Market_July_2011/ presentations/Day%201/Nepal%20country%20overview.pdf 22. Open Energy Info Nepal Overview: http://en.openei.org/wiki/Nepal 23. EIA US coal: http://www.eia.gov/coal/ 24. Three Gorges Dam:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303816504577319061311691568.html