AN ANALYSIS OF RURAL HOUSEHOLD ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT - TAMIL NADU

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1 130 AN ANALYSIS OF RURAL HOUSEHOLD ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN KANYAKUMARI DISTRICT - TAMIL NADU INTRODUCTION DR.M.MURUGAN* *Assistant Professor of Economics, Government Arts College, Melur, Madurai District, Tamilnadu. Energy generally has been simply defined as the ability or capacity to do work. Planned industrialisation, economic development, modernisation of agriculture, population growth, and rise in the human standard of living has created a burgeoning demand for energy in India. The availability of adequate supplies of energy is a matter of great concern as it is linked with industrial output and agricultural output. The major energy consuming sectors are industry, transport, agriculture and household. The demand for energy of these sectors is wide and varies from one another. However, their final goal is the same, since all are related to economic development. Energy demand of the different sectors of Indian economy is met by different sources of energy. These sources of energy are classified into commercial and non-commercial. Commercial sources of energy are one, which commands a price for its utilisation. Coal, petroleum, electric power etc. are the chief commercial sources of energy in India. Noncommercial sources of energy consist of firewood, vegetable wastes and dried dung. These are non-commercial sources of energy in the sense that they are supposed to be free and command no price. Actually, the non-commercial sources such as firewood, dried dung have started commanding a price in urban areas. Energy is also classified as renewable and non-renewable energy sources. Renewable sources of energy help the nation keep the environment clean and green. Though these sources of energy are pollution free, they do not reach the people to the expected level. Therefore, in this paper an attempt is made to analyse the consumption pattern of energy in the household sector and the possibility of adopting new and renewable sources of energy in the household sector in Kanyakumari District of Tamil Nadu. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY The main objectives of the study are a) To study the different forms of energy used by the people of this study area. b) To examine the level of energy consumption of this study area c) To analyse environmental impacts of the forms of energy sources used by the sample respondents.

2 131 d) To find out the possibility and feasibility of introducing the new and renewable sources of energy in this district. METHODOLOGY For this study, both primary as well as secondary data were used. For the present study, the researcher has selected 200 households randomly. Simple random sampling method was adopted for data collection. The collected data were processed and analysed with appropriate statistical tools. Secondary data were collected from leading journals, books, government reports, unpublished research works and internet. HOUSEHOLD SECTOR ENERGY CONSUMPTION The household sector is one of the major consumers of energy in India. In the overall national energy budget it accounts for about 50 percent of the total energy consumption though its share in commercial come to only 12 percent ( ). In India, about 75 percent of the total population lives in villages. People in rural areas need energy for lighting, cooking and water supply. Since the study is also concerned with rural households, the demand for the people who are in the study area is also mainly for lighting, cooking and water lifting. The demand for energy of the rural households in the study area is met by both the commercial and non-commercial sources of energy. The commercial sources of energy which is used in this district are electricity, LPG, Kerosene and fuel wood. The non commercial sources of energy used in the study area are the agricultural waste and fuel wood. Fuel wood is available to some people at free of cost and for some others it demands a price for its utilisation. The rich people get the fuel wood from their own field, the poor collect them from the near by small forest areas and the middle class people buy it from the firewood shops. The various sources of energy consumed by the people are supplied by various agencies in this village. The retailers supply the fuel wood. The Tamil Nadu Electricity Board supplies the electricity. Kerosene is supplied by the fair price shops and by some private agents. The private agents get these sources from the fair price shop illegally and sell it to the needy consumers. The private agencies of the government Oil and Natural Gas corporations supply LPG. Agricultural waste is available to the people from their own farms and they collect it from their neighboring fields. It commands no price for its use in this district. For the present study, the researcher has used calorific value to measure the thermal efficiency of various sources of energy used by the sample households. Table 1 explains the calorific value of the different sources of energy, which is used by the sample households.

3 132 TABLE-1 ENERGY CONVERSION FACTOR OF DIFFERENT ENERGY SOURCES Types of Energy Unit of measurement Calorific Value (Keal) Fuel Wood* Kg 4700 Kerosene* Lit 8547 Electricity Kwh 2520 Agricultural Waste* Kg 3500 LPG** Kg *Source: Dr. S.Paul, Decentralised Energy planning, March 1989, P.20 **Source : S.Boothalingam, Energy Demand in Greater Bombay, Universal Advertiser press, New Delhi, 1974, P.82 The total energy consumption of the sample household per month is exhibited in Table-2. TABLE-2 ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN THE HOUSEHOLD SECTOR PER MONTH Types of Energy Fuel Unit Quantity Consumed per month Energy in Calorific Value Keal Fuel Wood Kg (40.56) Electricity Kwh (29.12) Kerosene Lit (6.98) LPG Kg (9.14)

4 133 Agricultural Waste Kg (14.20) Source : Survey Data Total (100) The above table 2 represents a lucid explanation about the quantity of energy consumed in the study area of the sample respondents in a month and explains its calorific value. From this table it is clear that the share of fuel wood to the total energy consumption in the household sector of the sample population is the highest. The share of the fuel wood to the total domestic energy consumption of the 200 sample households is per cent. The reason for the high share of fuel wood to the total domestic energy consumption of the sample respondents is due to its availability. Since, this study area is of an agricultural based district where the availability of it is very high fuel wood is being the prime energy. Agricultural waste contributed about percent of the total energy consumption of the sample respondents. Agricultural waste is used for boiling paddy for preparing boiled rice-and heating water for bathing. The share of Kerosene and LPG are low as compared to fuel wood and agricultural waste. People who belong to rich income group, middle-income group and those who have LPG under the free connection scheme of the government of Tamil Nadu only use LPG for domestic purposes. Kerosene is very limitedly used for cooking. Some poor people in this study area resell the kerosene, which they get it from the fair price shop, to the local agents at somewhat higher prices. The agents sell it to the coastal people for running the fishing boats. Electricity is used only for lighting and lifting water for domestic purpose and for the coconut trees, which they grow near their homes. The share of electricity to the total energy consumption is per cent. ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR COOKING PER MONTH In the overall energy budget in the domestic sector of the 200 sample households, cooking needs constitute more amount of energy than other needs. In this study area from the collected data, fuel wood is the major source of energy of the sample people. Table 3 highlights the various sources of energy, which is used for cooking in the study area.

5 134 TABLE-3 ENERGY CONSUMPTION FOR COOKING PER MONTH OF THE SAMPLE RESPONDENTS Types of Fuel Fuel Unit Quantity Consumed per month Energy in Kcal Share to total energy (%) Fuel Wood Kg Kerosene Lit LPG Kg Agricultural Waste Kg Source: Survey Data Total The previous table 2 explained the total energy consumption for domestic purposes of the sample respondents. However, this table 3 explains the energy consumption for cooking per month. Fuel wood is the main sources of energy for cooking of the sample households. The share of fuel wood in the total energy consumed for cooking is percent. The share of LPG is percent. Though the government supplied LPG connection to the rural people at free of cost its share to total energy consumption for cooking is very low. Some people use one cylinder for more than six months. This is the reason why its share is very low. Very few respondents use kerosene for cooking. Others use it for lighting during the time of power failure and for other purposes. The share of agricultural waste to the total energy consumed by the sample household for cooking is about per cent. It helps the people indirectly for cooking purposes. This source of energy is not directly used for food preparation as smoke is released at a larger quantum. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS OF THE FORMS OF ENERGY USED BY THE SAMPLE RESPONDENTS In recent years, there has been a growing concern about global warming due to the increased concentration of green house gases and the resulting socio-economic impacts. These emissions are derived from a number of human activities; viz, energy production and utilisation, non-energy industrial processes (mainly for the production and use of chloro-fluoro carbons), deforestation and agricultural practices. Of these, energy (production and use) contributes for nearly 50 percent of green house gas (GHG) emissions. Deforestation and agriculture together

6 135 contribute 25 per cent while industry (non-energy related) being responsible for the remaining 25 per cent. In India, the distribution of different major energy forms reveals that about 80 per cent of the rural energy needs, is associated with fast depletion of fossil fuels and pollution hazards. In the study area, the whole energy demand of the domestic sector is met by pollution related sources. People knowingly or unknowingly use the energy resources that pollute the environment very worse. To make the people know about the pollution components that are emitted by the energy resources that they use, the environmental impacts of the different forms of energy is analysed here. For the present study, the carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emission analysis alone carried out here. The CO 2 emission reduction calculation has been made based on the following formula. EC c (t) = C c (t) x O c x Nc x M. Where ECc (t) is the carbon dioxide emission from the fuel combusted. C c (t) is fuel consumption in TJ O c is the carbon emission factor of the fuel in (TC / TJ) N c is the fraction of carbon oxidized of the fuel M is the molecular ratio of carbon dioxide to carbon (44/12) According to IPCC (1995) guidelines, the following steps are required to calculate CO 2 emissions of fuel consumption. (a) Energy consumption data expressed in mtoe should be converted to terajoules (TJ) unit using standard conversion factors. (b) Total carbon emission [tonnes of carbon (TC) ] is to be estimated by multiplying fuel consumption (terajoules) by the carbon emission factor (TC/TJ) of the corresponding fuel. (c) Total carbon emission is then multiplied by the fraction of carbon oxidised and the molecular weight ratio of carbon dioxide to carbon to find the total carbon dioxide emitted from the fuel combustion. The molecular weight is fixed as (44/12). In table 4 the CO 2 emission from the various forms of energy sources used by the sample respondents is shown.

7 136 TABLE 4 CO2 EMISSION FROM THE HOUSEHOLD SECTOR ENERGY CONSUMPTION Types of Energy Quantity Consumed per Month Unit Energy in Tera joule (TJ) CO 2 Emission in tonnes Fuel Wood Kg Electricity Kwh Kerosene 1165 Lit LPG Kg Agricultural Waste 5784 Kg Total Source: Computed by the researcher Table 4 reveals that the total CO 2 emission level of the different energy sources that are used by the sample respondents is tonnes. If the people in this district switch over to renewable sources of energy for domestic purposes then they can save the environment from the impact of air pollution to some extent at least. RENEWABLE ENERGY POTENTIALS OF THE STUDY AREA FOR DOMESTIC USES New and Renewable sources of energy are the important sources of energy to tackle the problems of deforestation and ecological imbalance. Renewable sources of energy are those that can be re-used many times, or once used can be restored or grown back in a reasonable period of time. Biogas, solar energy, wind power are the important renewable sources of energy, which are highly suitable to the rural villages. Feasibility of these renewable sources of energy to rural village is due to the gift to nature of the rural villages. However, the problem is that, establishing these sources of energy is not a feasible thing in rural villages due to cost constraint and lack of knowledge of the rural people. One of the important objectives of this paper is to find out the possibility of introducing new forms of energy, especially the Biogas Energy in this study area. To find out the possibility, it is important to know about the cattle dung availability in the study area. Table 5 presents a clear picture about the cattle population available to the sample households and the cattle dung availability from the cattle population per month.

8 137 TABLE 5 CATTLE POPULATION AND THE AVAILABILITY OF DUNG OF THE RESPONDENT S CATTLE POPULATION Types of Animal Households Cattle Population Availability of Dung in Kgs (per month) Bullocks Cows Local Cows Cross based Buffaloes Source: Survey Data Total From the above table 5 it is clear that there is possibility to adopt biogas plants in the study area. However, even a single respondent used the available dung for biogas production. The following table 6 explains the potential gas production from different feedstock. TABLE -6 POTENTIAL GAS PRODUCTION FROM DIFFERENT FEED STOCK Types of Feed Stock (Dung) Gas yield per kg (Cu.M) Cattle Buffalo Pig Chicken Human Excretia *Source: Training Course on IREP, Organised by Planning Commission and Gandhi Gram Rural Institute, The table 6 explains the potential gas production from different types of dung which is used as a feed stock in the Biogas plant.

9 138 POTENTIAL GAS PRODUCTION FROM THE AVAILABLE DUG The following table 7 exhibits the potential gas production from different types of dung which is available for the sample population in the study area. TABLE 7 POTENTIAL GAS PRODUCTION FROM THE AVAILABLE DUNg Types of Animal Availability of Dung (in Kg) Unit of gas yield per kg (cu.m) Total potential gas yield from the available dung Bullocks cu.m Cows Local cu.m Cows Cross based cu.m Buffaloes cu.m Source: Computed by the researcher Total cu.m Table 7 exhibits the potential gas production from the available dung among the sample households. The total potential gas production is cubic metre per month. Though it is possible for the establishment Biogas plant in this study area, no one has erected the Biogas plant. This is due to the huge amount of investment on it. If cost is minimised and if the government provides the people with subsidized long term loan to the people, then people may come forward for erecting Biogas plants. CONCLUSION The present study reveals that the consumption pattern of energy sources wholly depends upon the availability of the energy sources, and the level of income of the people. Among the sources of energy, fuel wood is easily available to the sample population in the study area. Therefore, they consume huge amount of fuel wood than other sources. The respondents use LPG very limitedly as its cost is comparatively high. Most of the people in the study area, get fuel wood from their own field. Hence, people avoide-using LPG to save money. The study also reveals the fact that the cow dung is available at a larger quantity. But, even a single household among the 200 sample household use cow dung for cooking gas preparation. This is due to the high cost of the installation of the biogas plant at individual level.

10 139 If this source of energy is developed then the environmental problem of air pollution can be minimised. REFERENCE Ambuj Sagar, (2002), India s Energy R and D Landscape A critical Assessment, Eonomic and Political Weekly, Vo. 37, No.38, PP Devendra Kumar Pant et.al.,(2005), Household Kerosene Consumption Patterns, Margin, Vol.38, No.1, PP Ganguly N.K., Dr.,(2001), Indoor Air Pollution in India - A major Environmental and Public Health Concern, ICMR Bulletin, Vol.31, No.5, PP. 1-9 Jaskiran Kaur Mathur; Dhiraj Mathur, (2005), Dark Homes and Smoky Hearths Rural Electrification and Women, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol. EL, No. 7, PP Kand pal TC and HP Garg, (2003), Financial Evaluation of Renewable Energy Technologies, Macmillan India Ltd., Ramachandra TV el.al., (2005), Decision support system for regional domestic energy Planning, Journal of Scientific & Industrial Research, Vol.64, PP Shyamal Paul and Rabindra Nath Bhattacharya, (2004), CO 2 emission from energy use in India: a decomposition analysis, Energy Policy, Vol.32, PP Subhrendu K et.al. (2004), Seeing the forest for the fuel, Environment and Development Economics, Vol.9, part 2, PP Sudarshan Naidu N.T., Potential of Biogas as a Rural Energy Source, Kisan World, Vol. 31, No.4, PP Sudhakara Reddy B and P.Balachandra, A Sustainable Energy strategy for India Revisited, Economic and Political Weekly, Vol.37, No.52, PP