Houn district is one of the 7 Districts in the province mentioned above, it is located at about 95 km from Oudomxay capital on the way to Pakbeng District, consisting of 14 zones and comprising 10,515 households included 3,413 households are in poor condition. The total population is 63,985 persons included 31,407 of female(statistic of Oudomxay Province). Corn is the second crop after rice. The total area is 17500 ha (Ministry of Agriculture).

The selected area in Hund District  the Phousea zone which include 10 villages namely Phoutum, Khonmuag, Tanglod, Tanglunh, Tangya, Phousea, Longkhou, Nampark, Phoukhoy villages. This area has not electricity accessed yet and it is developing area for Lao government.

The survey has been conducted smoothly in this zone due to the kind cooperation of local authority. Concerning energy use, there are similar situations in the target area. Shifting cultivation is still practiced in the area. Therefore, in the case of collecting firewood, women and children has to walk distances from the village to fulfill that purpose. Furthermore, the traditional style of cooking uses a lot of firewood, one family use fire wood about 3m³ to 5m³ per year ( 1m³ cost 100,000 kip to 120,000 kip or 10 to 12 USD).
For lighting: Almost all household use homemade lamps using diesel as source energy about 3 -5 liters per month, except Bane Kongmung all household use home solar system. In addition some household in the area have engine for rice milling and watching television about two hours per day; in this case they use approximately 20 liters/month (1 liter of diesel cost 1.5 USD).

Phousea is one of the 14 zones of Hund District, it has been selected as pilot area by Community Development and Environment Association, it is consisting of 9 villages not far from each other where Oudomxay Community Initiatives Support Project (OCISP) existed. The Pilot community will be based on Bane Kongmung where located at 29 km from Hund District.

Phousea

In the core village are 60 households without electricity access yet. The education is low because there is one primary school were people gradute after class 2. The main income is maize selling.
Energy use is fire wood, diesel lamps and rice miller generated for TV/VCD and sawin.

Phoutum

This village has no electricity access. The main occupation is agriculture. The villagers are a part of the Kamu ethnic minority.

Energy use is fire wood, rice miller, kerosene lamps, fuel consumption 3-4/m for lamb, 20l/m for rice miller and total 17 rice millers.

Khonmuag

The village is located in a mountainous area. 99% of the 34 households have installed SHS. All inhabitants are Kamu, like the villagers of Phoutum.
The income is generated from corn selling, there is IFAD centre located. However, fire wood is still the main energy which spend 2-5m³ a year.

Phoulod

In phoulod are 75 households living from upland farming. The education level is higher than in Pousea. There is one school from grade 1-5.
The villagers have no electricity access. They use diesel lamp, the 23 rice millers use sometimes generating for TV/CVD. The main income come from maise selling.

Tanglunh

The Tanglunh village is located in a sloping hills area. Main occupation of the 33 households is agriculture for subsistenz.
The inhabitants use diesel lamps and fire wood. The have no electricity access.

Tangya

In Tangya 47 households live from upland faring. The  main income comes from selling corn. They have no electricity access and the energy use includes fire wood for cooking, diesel lamps, and rice millers generated for personal purpose TV/VCD.

The villages Longkhou, Nampark, Phoukhoy and Ban Dou are not visited yet.