What is energy conservation?

There is great threat to energy security in the country. This has not arised just from the uncertainty and price of imported energy, but also from the possible disruption or short falls in domestic production. The second threat to energy security is rise of oil prices in the market. The energy is so important for economic development, and social need that any disruption in access to energy can be very expensive in welfare terms, as well as human survival and well being. Thus, there is need of conservation of energy to meet the present demand with taking consideration of future.

Improvement in energy security is creating a new domestic resource base. This can be done through making improvement in energy extraction technique, conversion, transmission, distribution and proper use of energy. All of these efficiency improvements can come using currently available commercial technologies. Energy efficiency and demand side management also have a large scope to reduce energy requirement.

These include the use of energy efficient appliances and automobiles, energy efficient lighting, cogeneration, distributed generation with combined heat and power use. There is also need to use well maintained irrigation pumps, energy efficient devices, well efficient transmission system for power distribution etc. In long-term, promotion of public transport in urban areas can significantly reduce energy consumption, development of effective and attractive mass transport such as underground rail, elevated trains, monorail or dedicated bus services in cities.

The energy security can also be increased by reducing the need for imported energy by substituting it with other forms of energy. Some important options are.

(i) Wood Plantation:

Would can be burned directly or gasified for power generation. This would reduce the need for future gas/ coal imports.

(ii) Bio-diesel and ethanol:

Can be a good substitute for diesel and petrol and bio- diesels are being used in many parts of the world. Ethanol can be obtained from molasses. It can also be obtained from other starchy crops and from cellulose plant matter.

(iii) Hydrogen:

Can be good source of energy, which is produced as by product of many industries and hydrogen-based vehicles could provide an option to reduce dependence on old imports. Coal can also be converted into oil as it is done in South Africa. Apart from these enhanced recovery technology for extraction of oil, gas coal from existing fields could be a good strategy to secure energy.

By this method 5-10 % energy can be saved. For his better mine design and the use of advanced mining techniques are good options. Coal bed methane gas which remains absorbed in coal seams can be used as a source of commercial energy. It is being used in Australia and USA. In India it has been estimated that potential of coal bed methane in India is in the range 1400-2600 billion cubic meters.

India has vast source of thorium and any long term nuclear strategy based on thorium could be a good solution for energy crisis. For this, the three-stage strategy of development of nuclear power from pressurized heavy water based reactors to fast breeder reactors to thorium based reactors need a sustained Research and development.

The success of this effort could provide 2, 50,000 MW of nuclear power by 2050. Apart from nuclear power wind energy, solar energy, energy plantation i.e. growing fuel wood for running power plants etc. can save the coal, petroleum or used for power generation.