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Bioenergy: A sustainable Energy Option for Rural India
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1Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences [CES], 2Centre for Sustainable Technologies (astra), 3Centre for Infrastructure, Sustainable Transport and Urban Planning [CiSTUP], Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, India.
*Corresponding author:
cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in

Abstract

Rural population of India depends on bio-energy for cooking, space and water heating. Though most of the energy needs in India is harvested from fossil fuels, 70% of the rural population depends on the bio-energy for their domestic usage in the country. About 70% of the Indian population lives in rural area where 75% of the primary energy need is supplied by bio-energy resources. Also, about 22% of the urban households depend on firewood, 22% on kerosene and 44% on LPG for cooking in India. Bio-energy resources are renewable in nature and combustion would not produce poisonous gases and ash with sufficient oxygen supply. A village level study on the present scenario of domestic energy consumption will help to assess the demand and supply of bio-energy in the country. Uttara Kannada district in Karnataka state, India is chosen for bio-energy assessment which has evergreen as well as moist and dry deciduous forest, where the majority of the people live in rural area or in semi urban area, mostly dependent on forest, agricultural and livestock residues for domestic energy need.

Bioresource availability is computed based on the compilation of data on the area and productivity of agriculture and horticulture crops, forests and plantations. Sector-wise energy demand is computed based on the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO study) data, primary survey data and from the literature. The ratio of bioresource availability to demand gives the bioresource status. The ratio greater than one indicates bioresource surplus zones, while a ratio less than one indicates scarcity.

The supply/demand ratio in the district ranges from less than 0.5 to more than 2. If the ratio is less than 1 (demand > supply) then that is fuel wood deficit place and where the ratio is more than 1 (supply > demand) then it is referred as fuel wood surplus region. In Uttara Kannada, most of the Taluks with ever green forest cover are fuel wood surplus regions where the supply/demand ratio is currently > 2 (compared to 8-9 in early 1990’s). Dwindling resource base could be attributed to the decline in forest cover in the district.

Keywords: Total primary energy supply (TPES), Bio-energy, Bioenergy Technologies (BETs), agricultural and horticultural residues, forest residues, sustainable rural energy supply.

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Citation : Ramachandra T.V., Ganesh Hegde, Bharath Settur and Gautham Krishnadas, 2014. Bioenergy: A sustainable Energy Option for Rural India., Advances in Forestry Letters (AFL) Volume 3 Issue 1, March 2014.
* Corresponding Author :
Dr. T.V. Ramachandra
Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, India.
Tel : +91-80-2293 3099/2293 3503 [extn - 107],      Fax : 91-80-23601428 / 23600085 / 23600683 [CES-TVR]
E-mail : cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in, energy@ces.iisc.ernet.in,     Web : http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy, http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/grass
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Dr. T.V. Ramachandra
Energy & Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences.,
Centre for Sustainable Technologies,
Centre for infrastructure, Sustainable Transportation and Urban Planning (CiSTUP),
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, INDIA.
E-mail : cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in
Tel: 91-080-22933099/22933503 (extn 107)
Fax: 91-080-23601428/23600085
Web: http://ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy
Ganesh Hegde
Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, India
E-mail: ganesh@ces.iisc.ernet.in
Bharath Settur
Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, India
E-mail: settur@ces.iisc.ernet.in
Gautham Krishnadas
Energy and Wetlands Research Group, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560012, India
E-mail: gautham@ces.iisc.ernet.in
Citation: Ramachandra T.V., Ganesh Hegde, Bharath Settur and Gautham Krishnadas, 2014. Bioenergy: A sustainable Energy Option for Rural India., Advances in Forestry Letters (AFL) Volume 3 Issue 1, March 2014.
Contact Address :
  Dr. T.V. Ramachandra
Energy & Wetlands Research Group,
Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore – 560 012, INDIA.
Tel : +91-80-2293 3099/2293 3503 - extn 107
Fax : 91-80-23601428 / 23600085 / 23600683 [CES-TVR]
E-mail : cestvr@ces.iisc.ernet.in, energy@ces.iisc.ernet.in,    Web : http://wgbis.ces.iisc.ernet.in/energy