ENERGY MANAGEMENT IN LUCKNOW CITY

Abstract

Man's history is a living testimony to his growth from a mere medium-sized mammal to his present position as the earth's dominant species by harnessing and manipulating energy at each stage of his evolution. The modern society grew without realizing the extent of its dependence on energy. The complex edifice of industrial civilization, with its endless catalogue of. achievement and conquest of the physical world, has so impressed people that they failed to see the fragility of supports received from the environment. Fossil fuels were regarded as free resources with infinite availability. Exponential growth in population, increasing urbanization and industrialization aggravated the problem further leading to grave consequences. The later part of the last decade saw the sudden realization of this great fault of Homo sapiens by the leading economies of the world and thus, started an era of attempts to switch over to "sustainable development". A sustainable system delivers services without exhausting resources. It uses all resources efficiently both in an environmental and economic sense. Our country, one of the fastest growing economies of the region, seems to have been left behind inspite of its rich heritage, which was based on sustainable development. Despite years of oil and electricity conservation efforts, India's electricity intensity remains very high- for 1996/97 it was. 0.91 kWh/ US$ of GDP(Gross domestic product)- one of the .highest in developing Asia and almost twice that of small countries like Taiwan and Malaysia. A number of Demand-side-management measures have been found on the top of the energy policy change list for many years, but the desired results are not yet achieved. There is a major lacuna as far as implementation of various programs is concerned. There is a need to shift the focus from top-to-bottom to bottom-to-top approach in all aspects of planning and administration. With regard to energy management, little has been achieved so far on account of various reasons. The problem has not yet been taken up holistically. The present study had made an attempt in this regard to design an energy management plan at city level. Lucknow City, the capital of Uttar Pradesh, has been chosen for conducting this present investigation. On account of resource and time constraints, only domestic and transport sectors have been dealt with in detail. The existing consumption pattern suggests a gap between the supply and demand. This gap is bound to increase manifolds in future if the same situation prevails, indicating an urgent need to look at the problem. Viewing the energy scenario from the aspects of supply, production, end-use and environment, and thus presents a gloomy picture. Therefore, for a sustainable use of energy and its resources few timely steps to be taken include mass awareness regarding energy resources and their limitations, judicious use and environmental concerns; appropriate understanding of the population, energy and environmental triangle in policy planning; development of energy efficient tools and adoption of other conservation measures. All these have been attempted in the proposed energy management model for the city. The study also paved the way for further research in this regard to make sustainable development a reality.