Since energy consumption plays an important role in indicating the life style or quality, there are many indicators to compare life styles in various countries. Initially, energy consumption was compared with a country's gross domestic product (GDP). Later on, energy consumptions per capita of many countries were analysed against GDP/capita. It was found that there is a strong multicountry correlation existing between national output per capita and energy per capita. Table 1 gives the energy-output relationships for nine industrial countries and Karnataka State.

The GDP/capita for the industrialised countries varies from 2612 to 5643 dollars for the year 1972, whereas it is only around Rs. 696 for Karnataka for the year 1974-75 (adjusted to 1972 prices). The energy/capita is the highest for U.S. and Canada at the level of 8.35 and 8.38 tons of oil equivalent and lowest for Italy and Japan at the level of 2.39 and 2.9. Karnataka has a figure of 0.4437 for the year 1974-75. Hence this illustrates that Karnataka State has very low energy/capita and GDP/capita values.

But these do not reveal the true state of energy use; one would like to know how the energy is used and what is the level of efficiency. Normally, it is said that since our energy use/person is very low compared to that for advanced countries, we should increase our energy production so as to reach the levels of "advanced" societies. It is wrongly assumed that energy/capita reflects a true state of development in a country. If this argument is accepted, then we should increase energy consumption rates in our country and our State.

Recently, there is a shift in the thinking even in the industrial nations. The index to be used is not energy/person, but energy/GDP i.e. the amount of energy consumed for producing 1 unit of GDP. This index is given in columns 4 and 5 of Table 1. This index also reflects the efficiency of energy use at a macro level. Column 4 gives the absolute values of energy/GDP in tons oil equivalent per million dollars. The value for U.S. is 1,480 and for Canada is 1,772. These two are supposed to be on the high side. Japan, France and Italy with values 849, 795 and 915 respectively are on the low side. Having seen that Karnataka is on the very low side as far as energy/capita is concerned, let us look at the picture for energy/SDP (State Domestic Product).

Karnataka State has an energy consumption/SDP value of 6077.1 tons oil equivalent per crore of rupees for the year 1974-75. This means approximately 7292.5 toe/million dollars. The value for the year 1979-80 adjusted to 72 is 8092.94 toe/million dollars. This means that we are consuming more energy for less output. For a relative picture the help of column 5 of Table 1 is used. Here the energy/GDP is calculated with the U.S. value equal to 100.

Coupled with column 5, we see that Karnataka has an index of 493 for the year 74-75 and 547 for the year 1979-80. This means that we are consuming five times energy consumed by U.S. for the same output. When compared with France or Japan, we consume ten times the energy consumed by them for the same output. This energy consumption does not include the human/animal energy. It these are also included, then the energy/SDP value will be higher (ours is more of an employment oriented society still).

The second factor seen from Table 1 is that the energy/SDP is increasing from 6077.1 in 1974-75 to 6744.12 in 1979-80. One possible conclusion can be that the energy efficiency (of use) is decreasing and not increasing. Post oil crisis situations saw considerable reductions in energy/GDP. For instance, West Germany showed a decrease from 1080 to 1010; Similar decreases were evident for UK and Netherlands. United States has shown a steady value for a period of nearly 20 years (1961-1974) varying from 1400 to 1480 (a max. of 5% difference) whereas Karnataka has shown an increase of about 10% in 5 years. Hence, it is desirable to actively pursue the introduction of energy efficient methods. The reasons why U.S. has a flat curve for the 15 years period may be; frequent updating of technology; efficient methods due to competition; stability in the system due to many years of energy use; saturation (?).

Another component in the energy consumption by these countries is the energy required for space heating and conditioning due to weather conditions. We are fortunate in having a good climate and we do not require space heating. Hence, if we adjust the energy/GDP for space conditioning, we get the results as shown in Table 2. Here we have subtracted the component for space heating from the total and calculated energy/SDP. The value for U.S. reduces to 1315. If the U.S. value is equal to 100, then the relative value for Karnataka becomes 615.4 (about six times the U.S. energy). Compared to France, it will be 12 times.

In order to see which sector consumes more energy, sectorwise GDP and energy have been calculated. These are presented in Table 3 for Karnataka. The index here is the energy consumption in tons of oil equivalent per crore rupees of the sector's contribution to SDP. The value for Agriculture is very low - 247. Whereas the value for transport is very high. Industry sector has the energy/SDP values of 10,512 for 74-75 and 6,754 for 79-80. Since the industry sector has a mix of many sources and devices and also it has a higher index, it was chosen for further comparison.

The industrial energy consumption is further compared in Table 4 This table presents two comparison factors (i) industrial energy in toe/GDP and (ii) industrial energy in toe/industrial GDP Again France is lowest with 40% of the energy/GDP of U.S. Karnataka again shows high values. When industrial energy/industrial GDP figures are looked at, Karnataka consumes 8.8 times the energy needed by U.S. for the same output. This definitely indicated the possibility of improving energy conservation in our industries.

Another factor in the selection of industrial sector is the fact that it is one of the major consumers of high quality energy sources. More than 44% of commercial energy is consumed by industries. Table 5 illustrates this phenomenon. The percent of industrial energy to total energy is given in this table. As can be seen from this table, whereas many countries consume about 30% of their energy for industrial purposes, we consume 44% and Japan 44.6%. The quantum of electrical energy consumed by industries as a percentage of total industrial energy is also reflected in the table. Even countries like U.S., U.K., West Germany, France etc. resort to electrical energy for a smaller fraction of their requirements, about 15-17% whereas the share of electrical energy in Karnataka's industrial energy needs is about 70%. This is despite power cuts for the past many years. Since electrical energy is a derived secondary energy source, it is inefficient for low quality work - like low temperature or medium temperature heating - applications. Electrical energy is efficient for lighting and static movement applications. As can be shown later, electrical energy finds a lot of use in heating applications in many industries in Karnataka not because it is efficient, but because it is convenient and less expensive than other fuels.

Efficient use of energy implies proper pricing strategies. Subsidies to industries on the tariff or fuel charges or low tariffs result in larger wastage of energy instead of lower costs of production. Table 6 gives energy prices for various fuels for the same energy content. The electricity tariff for Karnataka is the cheapest (next only to U.S.). Many other countries like West Germany, U.K., France have tariffs which are more than twice our rate. But one cannot say more on this because it also depends on income levels. But one point deserves mention here with low costs of energy charges, labour and raw materials, many of our industrial products - engineering, chemical etc. should be highly competitive in international markets. But it is not so, one of the factors may be inefficient use of energy.

Table 7 shows the prices of various fuels in Karnataka over a period of years. Surprisingly, coal and coke are still cheap. Coal is the least costly resource. Firewood and coke come next. Biogas from a small plant seems to be an attractive proposition with a price/unit of 16-26 paise.