International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 30 Number 8 - December 2015

A Study on Domestic Energy Consumption in Rural, Semi-

urban and Urban Sectors of Jorhat District: Assam
Reeta Sarmah*, Dikshita Bhattacharyya**
* Mechanical Engineering Department, Jorhat Engineering College,
Jorhat-785007, Assam, India
** Mechanical Engineering Department, Jorhat Engineering College,
Jorhat-785007, Assam, India

ABSTRACT or fields as cooking fuel. Kerosene is used as

A study was conducted to analyse the household lighting fuel as the constant availability of
domestic energy consumption pattern of rural, semi- electricity is very poor in rural areas. The large scale
urban and urban sectors of Jorhat district of Assam. consumption of fuel wood causes the rapid depletion
The data collected regarding domestic energy of forest resources. Although rice is the main crop in
consumption and domestic fuel technology in rural, Assam, a huge amount of rice residues go waste due
semi urban and urban households were analysed. to lack of awareness of the rural masses about proper
The per capita kerosene consumption was found to utilisation of these as domestic fuels. Twelve
be 0.372 GJ per year and that of fuel wood per villages were sampled in Jorhat district of Assam to
capita was found to be 10.101 GJ per year. Per study the domestic energy consumption pattern.
capita electricity consumption was estimated at The semi- urban people use fuel wood, kerosene and
0.0029 GJ per year in rural domestic sector. The per LPG as cooking fuels and kerosene and electricity as
capita consumption of kerosene, fuel wood, LPG and space lighting fuels. The semi urban people buy fuel
kerosene was found to be 0.451 GJ per year, 0.762 wood that come from the rural areas. Almost all
GJ per year, 1.986 GJ per year and 0.578 GJ per people have to keep kerosene as an alternative for
year respectively in semi- urban sector. In the urban lighting as electricity failure is a regular
sector, kerosene consumption was found to be 0.221 phenomenon in these areas.
GJ per year and that of LPG and electricity was LPG is the main cooking fuel in urban sector of
found to be 2.321 GJ per year and 0.983 GJ per Assam and electricity is the main space lightning
year respectively. Use of fuel wood in urban sector fuel. Kerosene is kept as an alternative in some
was found to be nil. households to use for lightning purposes whenever
Keywords: Rural energy, per capita consumption, there is a power cut or load shedding. The urban
fuel wood, kerosene, LPG, electricity masses use electricity to run some household
1. INTRODUCTION electrical appliances and it is also used for cooking
The domestic consumption of fuel occupies in some households.
a large share in the national energy consumption in As not much studies have been conducted in the line
India. The non commercial and traditional sources of of domestic energy consumption in the north eastern
energy namely, fuel wood, dung and agricultural part of India[7], an attempt is made through this
residues constitute the main sources of domestic paper to compare domestic energy consumption in
energy in rural India, catering to the needs of about rural, semi-urban and urban sectors of Jorhat district
80 per cent of the households despite the of Assam.
availability of the commercial sources of energy[1],
fuel wood occupies a major position catering to the 2. MATERIALS AND METHODS
needs of about 56 per cent of the rural A stratified random sampling technique
households[2]. was used for selecting households as sample units.
The energy situations in India is varied in nature Based on the existing infrastructural facilities such
with varied physical and socio-economic as the condition of roads, availability of electricity,
scenarios[3]. For this, special understanding appears transportation, marketing facilities, LPG agencies,
to be a basic approach towards evolving area educational facilities, medical facilities etc., the
specific rural energy strategies[4,5]. three sectors were identified on the basis of the
Majority of the rural people in Assam which is distance required to traverse to avail these facilities,
situated in the north-eastern part of India, rely the three sectors in which 0-7 kilometre represents
basically on fuel wood collected from nearby forests the urban sector, greater than 7 kilometre represents

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 International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 30 Number 8 - December 2015

semi-urban sector and greater than 15 kilometre converted into energy. One LPG cylinder for
represents rural sector. Sample of 450 households domestic use contains 14.2 kg of fuel and this
were chosen for rural households, 245 for semi converts to 624.8 MJ of energy. Finally, yearly
urban households and 215 fir urban households. consumption of LPG in cooking was found out.
The domestic energy sources and As most the sampled rural households
consumption pattern were obtained from every were unelectrified, the kerosene serves the purpose
household through a questionnaire. The survey data of space lighting in these households. In semi- urban
were collected at two levels- the sector and the sector, the people keep kerosene as an alternative for
household. The data were collected through personal space lighting when whenever there is a power cut
interview. Approximately 30 minutes time was taken or a power failure. Some of the urban people use
in filling up the questionnaire for each household. kerosene for cooking purposes. Data on volume
Two end uses mainly for cooking and consumption of kerosene per household were
space lightning were considered in the three sectors. converted into yearly energy consumption. Finally,
The information on cooking was sought on the type the energy consumption for the three sectors was
fuel and amount consumed per day per household. taken.
Data regarding consumption of fuel wood and Data collected on unit electricity
kerosene per day per household, unit of electricity consumption in kWh per month in the households of
consumption per month per household and the rural, semi urban and urban sectors were converted
number of LPG cylinders consumed per household into MJ (1 kWh = 3.6 MJ) and then the annual
per month were collected from the sampled families. electricity consumption per household was
Based on the feedback received the data estimated. The pattern of yearly electricity was
were modified into standard forms. The calorific obtained by adding total households for each sector.
value of fuel wood with 20% moisture content (air
dried) is 15 MJ per kg and that of kerosene is 44 MJ
per kg[4,7]. Also, calorific value of LPG is 35.2 MJ 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
per cubic metre. 1 kW of electricity is equivalent to 3.1 Rural Domestic Sector
3.6 MJ. Table-1 depicts per capita per year
The yearly energy consumption was domestic energy consumption in rural, semi rural
found from conversion from the per day energy and urban sectors. Fuel wood serves the purpose of
consumption. For winter season i.e. from November cooking in 100% of rural households, kerosene and
to March, 40% excess of the daily fuel wood electricity are used for space lightning in rural
consumption was added in the calculation of annual households. The annual energy consumption in rural
consumption rate as most of the rural households sector for cooking with fuel wood was found to be
consume low quality fuel wood for warming up. The 57,737.32 GJ and per capita per year consumption to
energy consumption in a household was added to be 10.101 GJ. The yearly energy consumption from
obtain annual energy consumption rate of a sector. kerosene in this sector was estimated at 2126.35 GJ
LPG is commonly used as a cooking and per capita per year consumption was found to be
fuel in semi urban and urban areas. Data collected on 0.372 GJ.
number of cylinders per month per household were

TABLE 1: Comparison of Domestic Energy Consumption in Rural, Semi urban and Urban sectors of Jorhat District, Assam
Item Rural Semi urban Urban
Distance from the town >15 km >7 km 0-7 km
Population 5716 2465 2130
Use of kerosene 2126.35 GJ per year 1111.72 GJ per year 470.73 GJ per year
(0.372GJ/capita/year) (0.451 GJ/capita/year) (0.221 GJ/capita/year)
Use of fuel wood 57,737.32 GJ per year 1878.33 GJ per year NIL
(10.101 GJ/capita/year) (0.762 GJ/capita/year)
Use of LPG NIL 4895.49 GJ per year 4943.73 GJ per year
(1.986 GJ/capita/year) (2.321 GJ/capita/year)
Use of electricity 16.5764 GJ per year 1424.77 GJ per year 2093.79 GJ per year
(0.0029 GJ/capita/year) (0.578 GJ/capita/year) (0.983 GJ/capita/year)

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 International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 30 Number 8 - December 2015

3.2 Semi urban Domestic Sector consumption was estimated at 1111.72 GJ and per
The annual consumption of fuel wood capita per year at 0.451 GJ. The yearly electricity
in cooking in semi- urban sector was estimated at consumption was found to be 1424.77 GJ and per
1878.33 GJ and per capita per year consumption has capita per year consumption to be 0.578 GJ.
been 0.762 GJ. About 30% of the semi urban people
use fuel wood as their cooking fuel. Also, some of 3.3 Urban Domestic Sector
the households keep fuel wood for use when there is The urban people do not use fuel wood
a shortage of LPG supply. in cooking. LPG serves as main cooking fuel in this
Most of the semi- urban people in semi sector. Kerosene is used by some of the households
urban sector rely on LPG for cooking and they for water heating. This consumption of LPG was
collect LPG cylinder from the local agencies or estimated at 4943.73 GJ annually and per capita per
from the town agencies. The annual LPG year consumption was estimated at 2.32 GJ.
consumption in this sector was estimated at 4895.49 Electricity is the prime lighting source in this sector.
GJ and per capita per year consumption was found Besides lighting, the urban people use electricity in
to be 1.986 GJ. many electrical appliances. In this sector, annual
As the semi urban sector is completely electricity consumption was found to be 2093.79 GJ
electrified, electricity is used as prime lighting and per capita per consumption to be 0.983 GJ. The
source. Most of the households use electrical yearly consumption of kerosene was estimated at
gadgets and appliances. The people of this sector 470.73 GJ and per capita per year consumption was
keep kerosene in stock to meet the need of lighting 0.221 GJ.
in regular power cut. The annual kerosene
Figure 1 depicts domestic energy consumption of different fuels in GJ/capita/year in the three
sectors under study.

12

10
Domestic Energy Consumption in GJ/Cap/Yr

8
Kerosene

6 Fuelwood
LPG
Electricity
4

0
Rural Semi-urban Urban

Fig.1: Comparison of Domestic Energy Consumption in Rural, Semi-urban and Urban Sectors of Jorhat District of Assam

4. CONCLUSIONS of using those as fuels. So, emphasis should be

A wide variations of domestic given to develop appropriate technology for proper
energy consumption pattern is evident in rural, utilisation of agricultural residues and dung. This
semi urban and urban sectors of Jorhat district of will be helpful in minimising deforestation and
Assam. Although the agricultural residues and upgrading quality of the rural life. Hence, there is a
animal dung are found in abundance in rural areas scope for energy conservation through appropriate
these are not used due to availability of forest fuel use of untapped energy sources available in the
resources and the lack of awareness and technology rural areas of Assam.

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 International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT) – Volume 30 Number 8 - December 2015

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