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How Much Energy Do We Need?
How much energy we need for a decent standard of living for everyone is a question at the heart of energy planning, but rarely addressed. Generally, such estimation is based on a desired gross domestic product growth. However, even achieving this GDP may not necessarily ensure the satisfaction of everyone’s basic needs. Energy planning should link energy and its end-use and end-user directly, promoting equity, and providing a better monitoring framework for energy use. End-use focused, bottom-up, disaggregated energy planning is such an approach and we urge that this should be the basis of energy planning in the country.
As India grapples with the rising aspirations of a billion-plus people, the abject energy poverty of several hundred million, and concerns of resources and environmental degradation, a question that assumes great importance is: “How much energy do we really need?” The answer to this question critically depends on another question—“Energy for what?”
The answers to these twin questions are important at many levels, such as infrastructure planning, energy security, determination of social and environmental disruption that can be accepted as “justified,” etc. It is also critical for equity concerns as well as in the climate change debate, especially in the light of ongoing international negotiations.
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