4.4. Data used in the design : tasks or end-users

Identification of various tasks and their energy requirements, and also peak power requirements (if any) constitute the first step in regional energy planning.

The regional energy tasks can be categorised as (i) domestic, (ii) agricultural, (iii) industrial, (iv) transport, and (v) commercial and service sectors. They can also be classified according to the quality or grade of energy requirements (thermodynamic characteristics). For example, cooking is a domestic task requiring medium temperature heat, and crop drying an agricultural task requiring low temperature heat.

1. Domestic : Cooking and water heating (for bathing) are the most important domestic activities in Uttara Kannada. Survey carried out in the domestic sector shows that the domestic sector mainly depends on fuel wood. This region is rich in bioresources; the noncommercial sources of energy (fuel wood, agricultural residues and animal waste) consumption constitutes about 97.15% of the district’s total consumption. Out of this, firewood’s share is about 59.02%, mainly in the domestic sector. Firewood is collected from nearby forests or from betta lands twice a year (discussed earlier in detail) in the hilly areas of the district, while in coastal taluks, due to scarcity (depletion of forest resources), villagers make frequent trips to nearby sources to gather fuel wood, mostly in the form of twigs and branches. Apart from these, in the coastal area, the forest department has made arrangement to supply fuel wood at subsidised price, based on ration card, at the rate of 15 kg/(person month) [28–30].
        Detailed household survey carried out in Kumta taluk (seasonwise) shows that fuel wood consumption ranges from 2.07 0.38 (summer), 2.13 0.37 (winter) to 2.31 0.41 kg/(person day) (monsoon) for cooking. While for water heating, it ranges from 1.29 0.29 (summer), 1.39 0.36 (winter) to 1.47 0.36 kg/(person day (monsoon). This shows very minimal seasonal variation in domestic sector’s fuel wood consumption.
        In the coastal area, due to fuel wood scarcity, households also use kerosene for cooking. It ranges from 0.34 0.79 (coastal) to 0.05 0.19 l/(person month) (hilly area). Due to availability of bioresources in large quantity, households in the domestic sector have switched over to biogas in Sirsi and Siddapur taluks. Biogas consumption ranges from 0.23 (coast) to 0.49 m3/(person - day) (hilly area).
        LPG (liquified petroleum gas) consumption ranges from 0.02 (coastal zone) to 0.01 kg/(person month) (hilly zone).
        Lighting needs : This also constitutes one of the essential needs in the domestic sector. Most of the villages in the district are electrified except very remote locations, such as, Yana, Sandolli, Medine, Kalave (Kumta taluk), Mogadde and Uddal (Sirsi). In electrified villages, all households are electrified. Under Bhagyajyothi scheme, the poor and socially backward categories have been provided one bulb in each household (free installation). To meet the lighting requirement in other parts of the house in these households, and due to erratic power supply by the centralised system (KEB), they still use kerosene wick lamps for illumination. These lamps, however, have low efficiencies and poor illumination. Kerosene consumption for lighting on average ranges from 0.82 (summer) to 0.87 l/(person - month) (monsoon). Electricity consumption (at present, mainly lighting) is about 2.22 kWh/(person month) in this region [28].
2. Agriculture : Uttara Kannada district’s economy mainly depends on agriculture and horticulture. Land preparation, irrigation, harvesting, threshing and transportation are the main tasks dependent on mechanical form of energy apart from manure input, seed, etc. At present, rainfed paddy is the major crop in agriculture and, hence, less dependent on irrigation. There is scope to grow second crop in this region, which involves irrigation. This can be met either from animate or inanimate sources of energy. The water requirement and associated average daily energy requirements depend on the area irrigated, type of crop, sources of water, total period of irrigation and irrigation efficiency. Uttara Kannada’s agricultural sector is active only during monsoon. During lean season, fodder crop is grown in some places (such as Banavasi), which enriches the soil by increasing its nitrogen content [44]. Apart from this, horticulture work, such as, land preparation and mulch manure application is done during the season when agriculture is not carried out. Most of the horticultural land owners are also agricultural land holders. However, there is scope for second crop in the coastal and plain regions (such as Mundgod). Cooking, water heating and lighting energy requirements are to be met daily, while the energy requirements of agriculture (such as, land preparation, irrigation, harvesting, etc.) depend on the cropping pattern and season.
3. Industries : Industries in Uttara Kannada can be grouped as large- and medium-scale, small-scale and village industries, such as, brick kilns, jaggery making units, etc. Large and medium-scale industries are located mainly in Karwar and Haliyal, while small-scale industries, such as, agro processing units, rice mills, etc., are distributed all over the district. Operations such as jaggery making, etc., are seen only during certain seasons [45,46]. Most of the smallscale and village industries depend on fuel wood and agriculture residues to meet their heating needs, since electricity is mainly used for lighting activity. However, large and medium-scale industries such as caustic soda and chemicals (liquid chlorine, hydrochloric acid, etc.) manufacturing sector are dependent mainly on electricity. Alternative sources and technologies to meet the energy needs of the industrial sector are available now. Quantitative analyses of resource and techno-economic analyses of technologies done earlier, show that viable alternatives are available to meet the local energy requirement [28–30]. The industrial energy requirement is estimated based on the sample survey conducted in Kumta and Sirsi taluks [45].