Energy balance of Indian villages: A case study of seven villages

Abstract

This paper estimates the rural energy balance of 7 Indian villages of different agro-climate zones. This was done through primary survey of households in each village covering energy consumption, production, export, import and stock change across Crop, Livestock, Industry/Trade, Tree outside forest/plantations and Residential Sector. An energy flow model was created to capture all the various energy flows at household levels. Two villages are showing Negative annual energy balance—one is the desert village of Gujarat state and another is a tribal village of Mizoram state. All other villages were found to be energy positive mainly due to high forest density and high crop yields.