Agricultural and Rural Reconstruction A Sustainable Approach

As the world moves into the twenty-first century where more than half of its population lives in urban centres, the problems it faces, particularly in the areas of energy and environment, will shift to the developing countries. Even though, it is an accepted fact that most of the energy resources are utilised by the developed world, it is equally true that a significant portion of these resources are consumed by the urban population, majority of which live in developing countries. This book on 'Urban Energy Systems' tries j to assess how a modern urban area consumes energy either directly or indirectly including the impacts of energy consumption on forests, environment, transportation, and the economy as a whole. This is being done through fuel cycle approach involving the source of energy, the mode of transportation and the pattern of energy use. Bangalore has been chosen as the focus of the study with the hope that a study of the energy consumption pattern of such a metropolis would yield useful results that would be of interest to other urban concentrations. The models developed in this book provide greater insights into the decision-making nature of the consumer. It is from this perspective that the policy-makers should think in terms of increasing the pace of diffusion of energy efficient devices, substitution of energy carriers, etc. Thus, the real merit of this book is that it serves as an excellent guide to policy formulation and intervention.