Introduction

Energy utilisation in Karnataka state, India differs radically from that of other, industrialised countries. Non commercial sources of energy such as firewood and agricultural residues constitute the main source of energy in rural areas. There are enormous variations in the amount of energy used within India in different states and regions. There exist regional disparities both in terms of energy supply and demand. Linkages between various energy sub sectors such as coal, oil, electricity and non commercial energy sources are non existent. Energy planning in our country is not an integrated activity. The plans for electricity, oil, coal, and firewood are separate exercises. Secondly, the planning activity considers only the demand and projects the demand over a period of years. The efficiency in utilisation has not been investigated. The primary goal of planners is for supply expansions based on the assumption of linkage between energy consumption and the economic growth of a region. With this approach, energy becomes an end in itself and the focus shifts on meeting increased energy consumption through energy supply expansion alone. This supply and demand based planning for each individual energy form has resulted in problems like inefficiency, losses, more conversions and other environmental problems. This conflict between energy demand and environmental quality goals can be solved by an integrated approach to the problem of energy planning with emphasis to minimise the consumption of non renewable sources of energy such as coal, oil, etc., to maximise the efficiency of end use devices in all sectors and to organise an approach towards optimal use of renewable sources. This path would certainly help in boosting economic growth of a region and equally important, it promotes structural changes that are conducive to overall development. In order to get an idea of Karnataka and India's level of energy consumption with other countries, we have carried out energy analyses and compared with energy consumption data from 56 countries.

The energy use per capita and GDP per capita data of 56 countries reveals that Karnataka state and India has very low per capita energy consumption. There are only small differences in per capita energy consumption between the developing countries. For high income countries, the difference is much larger. That is energy use per capita increases with higher income, but cross country comparisons can be misleading and inappropriate due to large variations among countries in terms of economic structure, climate, geographic location, etc. Energy intensity (energy consumption per GDP) and GDP per capita data reveals that India and Karnataka state have high energy intensities compared to other developed industrialised countries. Which clearly shows that Karnataka state and India have good potential in energy conservation.

A comparative study of energy use, mainly electrical, in industries in Karnataka and in those of some other industrialised countries reveals that Karnataka consumes 6.13 times the energy consumed in the Switzerland, 5.28 times the energy consumed in Japan, 3.35 times the energy consumed in the U.K. and 1.98 times the energy consumed in U.S.A. for the same GDP (Gross Domestic Product).

A sectoral analysis of electricity users in Karnataka shows that the growth of connected loads is mainly in two categories - AEH (All Electric Homes) and Small Scale (LT) Industries. The growth rate is 19.46% for the former and 27.33% for the latter. The growth increases in the past four years are 67.4% and 55% respectively. If we look at the annual increases in the number of installations again the LT industries sector has a very high rate of 38.66% followed by AEH with a rate of 19.15%. More than 50% of our industries are clustered in and around Bangalore. Barring a few exceptions, there is only limited industrial activity in other parts of Karnataka. Energy consumption patterns show that Bangalore uses 26.67% of HT energy. A few industries like Indian Aluminum at Belgaum, VISL at Bhadravathi, etc. show higher energy consumption values for some divisions. Belgaum consumes 21.6% of total HT energy in the State. Sector wise commercial energy consumption data shows that the industrial sector with 51.4% of total consumption constitutes the major energy consumer in Karnataka. This paper discusses about energy utilisation pattern and energy intensity trends among 56 countries and the energy scenario of Karnataka.