Cambodia

Electricity Production

A poor and undeveloped country, Cambodia has low electricity production, with 62.1 percent generated from fossil fuels and 37.8 percent from hydropower. Some projects to harness the use of hydroelectricity at Kirirom were planned in 1963, but many were not completed—and some not yet started—when war broke out in 1970. Some projects in the north of the country, in the sparsely populated areas of Mondolkiri province, have been criticized because of the destruction of local habitats such as the Monorom Falls area, which used to be a popular picnic spot but no longer exists. In 2006, the Chinese government offered $170 million to help fund a new hydroelectric scheme, and work has been progressing slowly. There have also been attempts to encourage solar power, championed by retired politician Son Sou-bert and others.

Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions per capita from the country have been extremely low, with negligible rates recorded at 0.04 metric ton per person in 2003. Cambodia ranks 205th in the world, which is only slightly less than Mali and at a rate only higher than Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, Chad, and Somalia. Of the carbon dioxide emissions, 77 percent are from liquid fuels, much of it through use of cars or buses, and the remaining 23 percent come from cement manufacturing. This is because of the major construction work in the country; houses used to be made from wood and natural products, but now many are made from prefabricated cement sheets, although there have been projects to reduce the amount of cement used. There is also a reasonably high per-capita emission of carbon monoxide.

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