8
1 Energy Security and Sustainability: An Overview
electricity, and so on. Availability of adequate energy and reliability of supply whether
commercial or non-commercial affect productivity, development, and sustenance. It
is, therefore, useful to understand various energy indicators to help policy makers and
executors in improving industrial and agricultural productivity, job creation, services,
and other economic activities in a country. Energy indicators provide a glimpse
of energy scenario and an understanding of complete energy flow and bottlenecks.
These are indispensable tools for identifying and understanding energy trends so that
decision makers can prioritize interventions and consumption pattern. Indicators keep
evolving overtime depending on country priorities, requirements, and capabilities.
These indicators (Energy Statistics 2018) are primarily economic indicators of energy
and are divided into two sub-indicators, viz., use and production pattern and security.
Use of energy and production pattern depends on various factors and sub-factors
(Fig. 1.3a, b).
The sub-indicators (Energy Statistics 2018) for energy security include fuel stocks
and imports and are described in Fig. 1.4.
1.3 The Paradox of Energy Security and Sustainability
Every living entity requires energy for survival, growth, and procreation of itself.
However, the case of human being is different from other living creatures in the sense
that they need an external source of energy to accomplish their quest for excellence.
Societies cannot survive without incessant use and supply/demand of energy and the
original source of energy is human energy—the energy generated by human cells for
supplying to muscles. As time passed, humans mastered the science of controlling fire
and used combustible materials like wood to cook food, and reshaped metals such
as iron to make implements. Subsequently, the energy of flowing water and wind
was also harnessed, followed by those of animals before we arrived at industrial
revolution and started using coal, oil, and gas for generating energy at commercial
scale.
To better understand, let us divide energy into internal energy and external energy.
Internal energy comes from consumption of food, air, and water that help us in
building protein, fat, carbohydrates, and minerals through a long and complex process
and storing it in trillions of cells. Each cell contains hundreds/thousands of mitochondria (biological battery) that contain a substance called adenosine tri phosphate
(ATP), which is also known as energy currency of the cell. ATP combines with water
to form adenosine di phosphate (ADP) and phosphorus and generates energy within
the cell to perform its designated functions. The economics of this conversion process
(from ATP to ADP and vice versa) is little understood since this has not been a matter
of much concern for the policy makers.
External energy, on the other hand, is required for human comfort, knowledge
advancement, exploration, and development in general. This energy is obtained
through three processes. One, by direct consumption of combustible materials such as
wood, animal waste, coal, charcoal, and kerosene; two, by producing bulk electricity
1 Energy Security and Sustainability: An Overview
electricity, and so on. Availability of adequate energy and reliability of supply whether
commercial or non-commercial affect productivity, development, and sustenance. It
is, therefore, useful to understand various energy indicators to help policy makers and
executors in improving industrial and agricultural productivity, job creation, services,
and other economic activities in a country. Energy indicators provide a glimpse
of energy scenario and an understanding of complete energy flow and bottlenecks.
These are indispensable tools for identifying and understanding energy trends so that
decision makers can prioritize interventions and consumption pattern. Indicators keep
evolving overtime depending on country priorities, requirements, and capabilities.
These indicators (Energy Statistics 2018) are primarily economic indicators of energy
and are divided into two sub-indicators, viz., use and production pattern and security.
Use of energy and production pattern depends on various factors and sub-factors
(Fig. 1.3a, b).
The sub-indicators (Energy Statistics 2018) for energy security include fuel stocks
and imports and are described in Fig. 1.4.
1.3 The Paradox of Energy Security and Sustainability
Every living entity requires energy for survival, growth, and procreation of itself.
However, the case of human being is different from other living creatures in the sense
that they need an external source of energy to accomplish their quest for excellence.
Societies cannot survive without incessant use and supply/demand of energy and the
original source of energy is human energy—the energy generated by human cells for
supplying to muscles. As time passed, humans mastered the science of controlling fire
and used combustible materials like wood to cook food, and reshaped metals such
as iron to make implements. Subsequently, the energy of flowing water and wind
was also harnessed, followed by those of animals before we arrived at industrial
revolution and started using coal, oil, and gas for generating energy at commercial
scale.
To better understand, let us divide energy into internal energy and external energy.
Internal energy comes from consumption of food, air, and water that help us in
building protein, fat, carbohydrates, and minerals through a long and complex process
and storing it in trillions of cells. Each cell contains hundreds/thousands of mitochondria (biological battery) that contain a substance called adenosine tri phosphate
(ATP), which is also known as energy currency of the cell. ATP combines with water
to form adenosine di phosphate (ADP) and phosphorus and generates energy within
the cell to perform its designated functions. The economics of this conversion process
(from ATP to ADP and vice versa) is little understood since this has not been a matter
of much concern for the policy makers.
External energy, on the other hand, is required for human comfort, knowledge
advancement, exploration, and development in general. This energy is obtained
through three processes. One, by direct consumption of combustible materials such as
wood, animal waste, coal, charcoal, and kerosene; two, by producing bulk electricity