Dynamics of household energy use in India: Economic and environmental implications

B. Sudhakara Reddy, Indira Gandhi institute of Development Research, Mumbai, India

Keywords

accessibility, affordability, cooking, energy, environment, households, sector, social

Abstract

Traditionally, research on energy analysis has concentrated on the importance of a range of obvious technological variables such as accessibility of energy, initial cost of the utilizing device/technology, saving benefits, and adoption rates. The importance of this research is undeniable, but it has become increasingly evident that socio-economic variables are also the strongest predictors of energy use. Income, education, occupation and location of the household have now become the measures most frequently used by current researchers in order to formulate policies for promotion of sustainable energy use. Keeping this in mind, we analyse the dynamics of energy use in the household sector in India which consumes nearly 40 % of the total energy (excluding the energy use for personal transport) with a low efficiency of utilisation. Since energy production and utilisation contributes more than half of global emissions, it is important to target energy sector as a GHG abatement strategy. This paper aims to do so by analyzing energy requirements of households using a large database (1950 to 2000). Using the data the paper analyzes - (i) energy use by different categories of households (income-wise as well as by region - Urban and Rural) in India (ii) changes in energy consumption over time of different end-uses and energy carriers for different categories of households (iii) the underlying social, economic, structural and technical factors that determine changes in household energy use; (iv) impact of technology and fuel shifts, from inefficient -to efficient devices and from non-renewable to renewable sources on energy use and, (v) links between household energy use and environment.