(introduction...)
Energy resources are broadly categorised as (a) renewable and
(b) depletables. The depletable resources are stored one whose availability keep
on decreasing depending on their use. While, renewable sources are available
every year and hence defined as a flow of energy that is not exhausted by being
used. Examples of renewable are hydro-energy, solar, wind, geo-thermal, wave,
tidal, biomass, energy from wastes (biogas, agrowastes, industrial wastes etc).
Example of non renewable are petroleum products, coal, uranium etc. If the
annual consumption of fuelwood is less than its annual production then fuelwood
can also be treated renewable source of energy. Energy resources are also
classified as primary or secondary ones - coal, firewood etc are being primary
while electricity a secondary one. Whenever there is transformation of energy
from one form to another only a part of energy input gets converted to usable
output. To highlight the increased use of depletable resources of energy with
increased population without much conservation efforts energy consumption
patterns for Karnataka in south India are studied over a period of time
(Ramachandra 1994, Government of Karnataka 1990). These studies reveals that how
vast scope exists for introduction of conservation measures and as well as
introduction of renewable sources to sustain if not speed up the overall
development of the
state.