Ramachandra T. V.(1,2), Sreekantha(1) and Purnima G. B.(1)
(1) Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science;
(2) Centre for Sustainable
Technologies, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore 560012, India.
Citation: Ramachandra T.V., Sreekantha and Purnima G.B., 2007. Bioenergy Status of Sharavathi river basin, Western Ghats, India, Energy and Environment, 18(5): 591-613.
ABSTRACT
Most of the developing countries including India depend heavily on bioenergy and
it accounts for about 15% of the global energy usage. Its role in meeting a region’s
requirement has increased the interest of assessing the status of biomass
availability in a region. The present work deals with the bioenergy status in the
Linganamakki reservoir catchment of the Sharavathi river basin, Western Ghats,
India, by assessing the energy supply and sector wise energy consumption. The
study reveals that majority of the households (92.17%) depend on fuelwood for
their domestic energy needs with the per capita fuelwood consumption of 1.2
tonnes/year, which is higher than the national average (0.7 tonnes/year). This
higher dependence on fuelwood has contributed to the degradation of forests,
resulting in scarcity of bioresources necessitating exploration of viable energy
alternatives to meet the growing energy demand.
Keywords : Bioenergy, Biostatus, Energy alternatives, Biogas, Sustainable
Energy.
Address for Correspondence :
Dr. T.V. Ramachandra
Energy Research Group,CES R.NO. 215, Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore 560 012, India
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