A Micro View of Energy Consumption in The Household Ecosystem

Abstract

Energy is the basic natural resource without which the existance of mankind is almost impossible. The human civilization started with the historic revolutionary invention of fuel energy which today has become an universal concern. Energy plays a vital role in human development and welfare, since all the important economic activities of present civilization are dependent on availabality and level of consumption of energy (Rajgopal and Mishra, 1994). Energy is the important component of ecosystem and household is the major consumer of this component for various activities like cooking, water heating and lighting. In India about 50 percent of the total energy consumption is met from the non commercial energy sources like wood, vegetable/ agricultural wastes, dried cow dung cakes etc. In Karnataka out of the total 51.41 percent energy produced from the traditional sources, fire wood alone accounts for 41.29 percent energy production. In rural areas cooking alone consumes maximum energy in the households and fire wood is the primary source for more than 90 percent of the households (Sumangala, 1997). Today the whole world, perticularly India is facing energy crisis not only due to price rise but also due to steady increase in population and the depleting availabality of the energy sources (Sharma, 1993). Some of the technologies like biogas, solar cookers, improved chulahs etc. are not readily accepted by the population for regular use in the micro ecosystem. Hence the present study is designed to gain knowledge about the use of major energy sources in the household level both in rural and urban areas and the constraints faced by the families in the procurement and use of these energy sources.