1. Energy Conservation in India:
Challenges & Achievements
SOURAV SHOW & SATYAJIT MAJUMDAR
PG I; PRESIDENCY UNIVERSITY
Abstract: The gap between supply and demand of energy is continuously increasing despite
huge outlay for energy sector since independence. Further the brining of fossil fuel is
resulting in greenhouse gases which are detrimental to the environment. The gap between
supply and demand of energy can be bridged with the help of energy conservation which
may be considered as a new source of energy which is environment friendly. The energy
conservation is cost effective with a short payback period and modest investment. There is
a good scope of energy conservation in various sectors.
Introduction
India today has a vast population of more than 1.20 billions out of which nearly 75% are living in
rural areas. Energy and development are inter-related. In order to have sustainable growth rate. It
is imperative to have sufficient energy for systematic development in various sectors. Energy
sector has received top priority in all Five year pains so far. During seventh Five Year plans 30%
of the plan outlay was allotted to this sector. The installed capacity of electric power has increased
from 1362 MW. At the time of independence to a staggering 70,000 MW. The gap between
demand and supply of electrical energy is increasing every year as power sector is highly capital-
intensive. The deficit in installed capacity was nearly 10,000 MW, by the and of eleventh five year
plan. It is estimated that in 2011 alone India has lost above 10.0 billion US$ in manufacturing
productivity because for power is projected to grow by 7 to 10% per year for the next 10 years.
In future the energy conservation would assume more significance globally on the basis of the
effect of burning fossil fuel on environment, particularly the global warming rather than the
depletion of fossil fuel reserves and other consideration.
Most people understand that fossil fuels and uranium are the main sources of the energy that
power society. What is less well understood is that geologists and geophysicists are the
professionals who search for, find, evaluate and monitor the production of these resources for the
benefit of everyone. In the 21st century the detrimental impacts on climate and the environment
produced by the use of these „conventional‟ fuels, and the fact that their quantities are limited, is
forcing society into finding alternative and clean energy resources to substitute for them. The
geothermal, solar, wind, and ocean wave potential is currently an active area of research. Finding
ways to transition from a fossil fuel economy to one in which these alternative sources dominant is
one of the main challenges facing society today.
Statistics ahead - Growth in global primary energy consumption remained low in 2017; and the
fuel mix shifted away from coal towards lower carbon fuels.
Global primary energy consumption increased by just 1% & CO2 emissions increased by only
0.1% in 2017.
Oil – Oil remained the world‟s leading fuel, accounting for a third of global energy consumption.
Global oil consumption growth averaged 1.6 million barrels per day (Mb/d), or 1.6% above its 10-
year average (1.2%) for the second successive year. China (400,000 b/d) and India (330,000 b/d)
provided the largest increments. Global oil production in contrast, rose by only 0.4 Mb/d, the
slowest growth since 2013. Production in the Middle East rose by 1.7 Mb/d, driven by growth in
Iran (700,000 b/d), Iraq (400,000 b/d) and Saudi Arabia (400,000 b/d). Production outside the
Middle East fell by 1.3 Mb/d, with the largest declines in the US (400,000 b/d), China (310,000

2. b/d) and Nigeria (280,000 b/d). Refinery throughput growth slowed from 1.8 Mb/d in 2015 to 0.6
Mb/d last year. Refining capacity grew by only 440,000 b/d, versus 10-year average growth of 1
Mb/d, causing refinery utilization to rise.
Natural gas – World natural gas consumption grew by 63 billion cubic meters (bcm) or 1.5%,
slower than the 10-year average of 2.3%. EU gas consumption rose sharply by 30 bcm, or 7.1% -
the fastest growth since 2010. Russia saw the largest drop in consumption of any country (-12
bcm). Global natural gas production increased by only 21 bcm, or 0.3%. Declining production in
North America (-21 bcm) partially offset strong growth from Australia (19 bcm) and Iran (13
bcm). Gas trade grew by 4.8%, helped by 6.2% growth in LNG imports/exports. Most of the net
growth in LNG exports came from Australia (19 bcm out of 21).
Coal – Global coal consumption fell by 53 million tonnes of oil equivalent (motoe), or 1.7%, the
second successive annual decline. The largest declines in coal consumption were seen by in the US
(-33 mtoe, an 8.8% fall) and China (-26 mtoe). Coal consumption in UK more than halved (down
52.5%, or 12 mtoe) to its lowest level in records. Coal‟s share of global primary energy
consumption fell to 28.1%, the lowest share since 2004. World coal production fell by 6.2%, or
231 mtoe, the largest decline on record. China‟s production fell by 7.9% or 140 mtoe, also a record
decline. US production fell by 19% or 85 mtoe.
Renewables, Hydro & Nuclear energy – Renewable power (excluding hydro) grew by 14.1% in
2017, below the 10-year average, but the largest increment on record (53 mtoe). Wind provided
more than half of renewables growth, while solar energy contributed almost a third despite
accounting for only 18% of the total. Asia Pacific overtook Europe & Eurasia as the largest
producing region of renewable power. China overtook US to be the largest single renewable
producer. Global nuclear power generation increased by 1.35% in 2017, or 9.3 mtoe. China
accounted for all of the growth, expanding by 24.5%. Hydroelectric power generation rose by
2.82% in 2017, (27.1 mtoe). China (10.9 mtoe) and the US (3.5 mtoe) provided the largest
increments. Venezuela experienced the largest decline (-3.2 mtoe).
THE SCOPE AND POTENTIAL
The developing countries like India are obliged to maintain a certain growth rate for which energy
is a basic ingredient. Failure to meet the energy demand for the basic needs of the economy will
cause inflation unemployment and socio economic disorder. The major energy projects are capital-
intensive and result in the degradation of the environment and ecology.
Energy conservation is the strategy of adjusting and optimizing energy using systems and
procedures to reduce energy requirements per unit of output without affecting socio-economic
development. Energy conservation means going with what is available, while in developed
countries 1% increase in G.N.P. needs barely 0.6% increase in energy consumption in whereas in
India the corresponding increase in energy consumption is nearly 1.5%.
Areas of Energy Conservation
The main areas where conservation was possible are as follows:-
1. Improvement in power factor would result in reduction in actual maximum demand on the
system.
2. Improvement in plant load factor results in optimum utilization of plant capacity and increasing
production.
3.80% of the industrial electricity consumption is accounted for by induction motors which are
mostly used for pumping and compressor application, etc.
4. Various furnaces, electrolysis baths and vessels operating at higher temperature are found to
have inadequate insulation. Higher surface temperature means loss of electrical form of energy by
radiation. This can easily be prevented by applying proper insulation to limit the surface
temperature rise above ambient up to 200˚C.

3. New Concepts in Energy Conservation
• Conservation must be recognized as a new source of Energy- “a benign and clean source”
• End use management of energy demand should not be met by increased supply only.
• Energy efficiency is the most cost effective way to bridge the gap between supply and demand.
• In the past the energy planning was based on continuous supply of fossil fuel. What matters to a
consumer of energy is not energy per so but the services it provides cooking. Lighting, motive
power etc. thus the true indicator of development is not the magnitude of per capita energy
consumption, but the level of energy services provided. A stage has reached when developing
countries need not to look at energy consumption per capita as a sign of development and growth.
• The economics of major power projects ignore the time value of money. The gestation period of
the project is ignored. Thus the projects which yield physical benefits after many years are treated
at par with projects that yield immediate benefits. Thus no attention is paid to when the returns are
obtained.
APPROACHESAND CHALLENGES
Approaches
The various approaches of energy conservation may be divided into (i) short-term measures (ii)
medium term measures and (iii) long-term measures.
All the short-term as well as medium term measures for the energy intensive sectors may be taken
up immediately so that their benefits can be realized during 12th plan itself. Further, the
programmes for long term measures should also be initiated simultaneously which include:
1) Software components
These include:
(a) Promotion, motivation education, dissemination of information, data bank and creation of
national Energy Conservation centre.
(b) Promotion of R&D in technologies, equipment etc.
(c) Promotion of studies on policies, economics of energy use, demand management, various types
of survey etc.
(d) Developments of standards.
(e) Rectification.
programmes. They include:-
2) Hardware Components
The following are included under this category.
A. Energy efficient projects in all the sectors including co-generation.
B. Demonstration projects-Models of energy efficient appliances, demonstration centres etc.
C. Technology import/up-gradation-Acquisition of state-of-art technology through foreign
collaborations.
D. Strengthening of Transmission and Distribution systems of various State Electricity Boards to
reduce the system losses to 15% range.
E. Development of infrastructure such as improvement of transport systems, communication
systems, electrification of railways etc
Stages of Energy Efficiency
The different types of activities of energy efficiency could be put into four distinct categories
• Soft or managerial Solutions
• Modest Investment
• New Technology of Production
• Technological Breakthrough Challenges

4. STRATEGIES AND ACHIEVEMENTS
The status of energy conservation in various sectors is as follows:
1. Agricultural Sector The farmers in the country have installed about 18 million pumps operated
by diesel/electricity. These roughly consume 30 billion kWh of electricity and 6 billion litres of
diesel. It is necessary to provide the much needed irrigation to the crops but, unfortunately, the
pumping systems adopted have remained inefficient and the consumption of electricity and diesel
has been 50 to 100 percent more than what it should be. Regarding petroleum products, India
produces hardly 60% of the required crude oil indigenously, importing more than Rs. 15,000 cr
worth of crude oil and petroleum products to meet the current demand. The excessively wasteful
consumption of energy in the agricultural sector has to stop both for conserving energy per se and
reducing the irrigation cost for the farmers.
2. Transport Sector The sector uses, nearly thirty two percent of the commercial energy. This
sector is second only to industrial sector. Further, this sector is heavily dependent on petroleum
products. Import of petroleum is nearly 35 percent of total expenditure on imports in India. Its
consumption is increasing at an annual rate of 6 to 8 percent. Automobiles thus offer one of the
most promising areas for major savings. There are tow modes of transport which are most
common, viz. rail and road. Unlike the railway, the road sector is not wholly in the organized
sector and hence its database is rather weak.
3) Domestic Sector In domestic sector the maximum consumption of electricity is in lighting. It
is, therefore, imperative to have energy efficient devices in this field. One such device is compact
fluorescent lamp (CFL) This consumes much less power as compared to incandescent lamp and
has a lifetime of nearly 10,000 hours. E-lamp (electronic light) has been introduced recently in
USA. This lamp is supposed to consume 75 percent less electricity than conventional incandescent
lamp.
4) Industrial Sector Industries consumes maximum energy. In general Indian industries are
highly energy inefficient. However, during last 6 to 8 years some major industries have paid
attention towards energy conservation medium and small scale industries are, by and large.
indifferent to energy conservation.
1) Iron And Steel 2) Fertiliser 3) Cement 4) Textile 5) Petroleum Refining
Prospects of energy conservation
Renewable energy resource is new era trend across the world for various problematic situation
such as global warming, lots of environmental issues, economical issues related fossil fuel. Due to
extra heavy CO2 emission & decreasing trend of fossil fuel reserves, geologists shifting the
concepts towards solar, wind, geothermal, marine energy resources which can produce stability in
global energy supply.
Solar energy the most abundant energy resource and it is available for use in its direct and indirect
forms. About 60% of the total energy emitted by the Sun reaches the Earth‟s surface. Even if only
0.1% of this energy could be converted at an efficiency of 10%, it is would be four time larger than
the total world‟s electricity generating capacity of about 7000GW.
Wind is available virtually everywhere on Earth, although there are wide variations in wind
strengths. The total resource is vast estimated to be around a million GW for total land coverage. If
only 1% of this area utilizes, it begin equivalent to the total worldwide capacity of all electricity –
generating plants.
Bioenergy is a broad category of energy fuels manufactured from a variety of feed stocks of
biological origin and by numerous conversion technologies to generate heat, power, liquid biofuels
and gaseous biofuels. The industrial use of raw materials for production of pulp, paper, tobacco,
pig iron so on, generates by products such as bark, wood chips, black liquor, agricultural residue,
which can be converted to bioenergy.
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References
 World energy resource-(W.E.C)468p, 2013

5.  BP statistical review of world energy; June 2017
 Energy- Wikipedia.com