Smriti Dwivedi

Energy Plan for Rural Areas: Assessment, Planning & Implementation Smriti Dwivedi

In the past two decades, there have been several attempts by way of promoting various renewable energy programmes, forestry programmes, etc. but their impact has not been significant enough to make a dent on the growing energy demand in the rural areas or to mitigate the adverse environmental effects. With the rural population poised to cross 750 million by the turn of the century, the energy requirements would be enormous and there is a need to develop innovative approaches to deal with the rural energy problems in the future. This book discusses the current energy status, choice of energy options and potential of renewable energy systems for creating sustainable livelihoods in rural areas. The energy plan was prepared with the objective of providing energy security in villages by meeting total energy needs for cooking, lighting and motive power through various forms of available renewable energy sources. Sustainable development of the rural areas would thus be possible when energy needs are integrated with environmental Concerns at the local and global levels, and for this purpose an integrated planning framework would be necessary.