ENERGY  ALTERNATIVES: RENEWABLE
ENERGY AND ENERGY CONSERVATION
TECHNOLOGIES



Assessment of Energy Resources in Kolar District :

  During  last  decade various  developed  nations all over the 
  World  have  demonstrated   successfully  the  advantages  of 
  adopting new and evolving spatial and temporal analysis tools 
  such as  Geographic  Information System (GIS), Remote sensing 
  (RS), Image  processing  and  Computerised Data management in 
  Planning  of   Management   of   natural  resources.  But  in 
  developing  nations GIS still remains unexploited for natural 
  resources  and  environmental  planners.  Water  and  Biomass 
  resources constitute major  component in planning of regional 
  energy  systems.  Through  this  study  we  try  to  chart an 
  economically and environmentally  sustainable regional energy 
  supply and demand (sectorwise) data  base for  Kolar district 
  in  Karnataka. Kolar  district is  situated in  dry arid zone. 
  The  change  in  land  use  patterns  and various large scale  
  developmental  projects  has  affected  the fragile ecosystem 
  considerably.Due to this short sighted development approaches 
  have  resulted in severe water scarcity and fuelwood shortage 
  in  some  of  taluks. In view of  these, it is  necessary  to 
  identify, measure and  monitor the cumulative effects of land  
  use decisions across space and time. Regional energy planning 
  encompasses  the  simultaneous  consideration of hydrological, 
  soil  and  bio  resources, the  need for making better use of 
  analytical  tools  and  approaches  which address spatial and 
  temporal   variability  is   critical .  The  application  of 
  innovative  information  technologies such as GIS in planning 
  exercises  helps  in  better   understanding   multi  variate 
  dimensions of ecosystem  management. Hydro  and bio resources 
  are the areas where the use of  GIS holds great promise as an 
  integrative  planning tool. Hydro  resources  development and 
  management includes issues such as arable and non arable land 
  issues  such  as  crop and livestock  management, surface and 
  ground  water  management and conservation, soil conservation, 
  forest  utilisation and  human settlement concerns. Secondary 
  data  collection:  such as  demographic,  geographic,  social, 
  economic,  ecological  and  cultural (all these  are found to 
  have  indirect influence on energy system (supply and demand) 
  from government agencies at  district and state head quarters 
  is collected  and  are  being  computerised. Field  survey is 
  being undertaken in Kolar district,to assess the availability 
  of  various  fuels   presently  meeting   the   energy  needs.  
  Assessment  include  both  the  availability  and  supply  of 
  biomass  fuels (fuelwood, crop  residues and animal residues) 
  as well as commercial  fuels (electricity,  kerosene,  diesel, 
  LPG etc.)

  An  integrated  approach  involving  compilation of data from 
  government  agencies and institutions, application of spatial 
  and temporal  analyses using  remote sensing data, Geographic 
  Information  System (GIS  technique)  and  conventional field 
  survey (ground  truthing)  have been  adopted in  this  study.  
  The  vegetation  map  for  Kolar  were  prepared based on the 
  interpretation  of  IRS-1C  satellite  imageries,  using  the 
  visual  interpretation  keys  such  as  tone, colour, texture, 
  pattern, association, size,  shape, topography and drainage.

  The resource base in  Kolar under each sector such as forests, 
  agriculture,  horticulture  and  animal residues are analysed 
  spatially. Also, an attempt is made to illustrate the present 
  role  of  biomass  energy ,  the  resource  base  for  future 
  development, some promising  conversion technologies and uses. 
  Biogas, energy  plantation  and  biomass gasification are the 
  most promising bioenergy technologies.