Present Role of Bioenergy

  Bioenergy is one of the  primary  sources of fuel in India. A 
  recent  study  on energy utilisation in Karnataka considering 
  all  types  of  energy  sources  and  sectorwise  consumption  
  reveals  that,  traditional  fuels  such  as  firewood (7.440 
  million  tonnes  of  oil  equivalent  (mtoe) - 43.62%),  agro 
  residues (1.510 mtoe - 8.85%), and  biogas and cowdung (0.250 
  mtoe - 1.47%) account  for 53.20% of total energy consumption.  
  In rural areas, the dependence  on bioenergy to meet domestic 
  requirements  like  cooking  and  water heating is as high as 
  80-85%. Fuel  wood and agricultural  residues are also widely 
  used as fuel  in  rural industries like cashew and other agro 
  processing industries, brick kilns, and in commercial sectors 
  like hotels,etc. Detailed investigation of energy consumption 
  in  ninety  villages of Kumta  taluk  reveals that annual per 
  capita  fuel  wood consumption for domestic purposes (cooking, 
  water heating,etc.) is 0.7-1.1 tonnes,and in rural industries, 
  such as cashew processing  (fuel wood consumption is  4.5-8.5 
  kgs per  kg of cashew  kernels), jaggery making (one tonne of 
  fuel wood (logs) for processing 5 tonnes of sugar-cane),brick  
  manufacture (400-800 kgs of fuel wood for making 1000 bricks), 
  etc.