The evolving metabolism of a developing economy: India’s exergy flows over four decades

Abstract

Many developing countries are attempting to develop quickly by increasing utilization of nonrenewable resources. Comparing the national metabolism of developed and developing societies can shed useful light into how efficiently the useful potential of resources is being used to identify potential pitfalls and opportunities for sustainable development. Such analysis may also help avoid and leapfrog over some of the mistakes of developed countries. Such research could assist in finding answers to some critical questions like whether developing societies like India are being more sustainable than developed societies in terms of resource utilization. Comparing historical trends of resource use across multiple societies also sheds light on how the resource mix changes with efforts toward sustainability.The primary objective of this work is to gain greater understanding of India’s economic growth over the last four decades (1970–2010) by analyzing its reliance on useful work or exergy derived from various natural resources. Such insight can help determine whether India is following a path of sustainable development. If the country is not on this path, this work can help identify opportunities for improvement. Acquiring such data was itself a formidable challenge, making this the first database of its type. This paper presents and discusses the trajectories of resource consumption and its conversion into useful work and environmental emissions from economic activities. The results show a significant increase in the country’s metabolism as it evolved from a controlled to a more open free-market economy, along with a more recent and gradual improvement in the intensity of exergy use. Comparing the trend of India’s metabolism with that of selected developing and developed economies shows India’s path to be similar in many ways. Reliance on nonrenewable resources has been increasing and a large fraction of the exergy input gets wasted, as shown by a Grassmann diagram. Results show that opportunities exist for improving efficiency in the utilities and residential sectors. India needs to improve its efficiency at a faster rate than what happened in developed countries since otherwise the global implications due to fast economic growth and a large population can be quite significant.