Energy is required for all activities. It is needed to cook, provide light and heat, propel vehicles, and drive machinery in industries. Energy can be generated from fuel minerals like coal, petroleum, natural gas, uranium, and electricity. Energy resources can be classified as conventional sources of energy and non-conventional sources of energy.

 

Conventional sources of energy include firewood, cattle dung cake, coal, petroleum, natural gas, and electricity (both hydro and thermal). Non-conventional sources include solar, wind, tidal, geothermal, biogas, and atomic energy. Firewood and cattle dung cake is most common in rural India.

 

According to one estimate, more than 70 percent of energy requirement in rural households is met by these two; continuation of these is increasingly becoming difficult due to decreasing forest area. Moreover, using dung cake too is being discouraged because it consumes the most valuable manure which could be used in agriculture.

 

Coal

 

In India, coal is the most abundantly available fossil fuel. It provides a substantial part of the nation�s energy needs. It is used for power generation, to supply energy to the industry as well as for domestic needs. India is highly dependent on coal for meeting its commercial energy requirements. As you are already aware that coal is formed due to the compression of plant material over millions of years.

 

Coal, therefore, is found in a variety of forms depending on the degrees of compression and the depth and time of burial. Decaying plants in swamps produce peat. Which has low carbon and high moisture contents and low heating capacity.

 

Lignite is low-grade brown coal, which is soft with high moisture content. The principal lignite reserves are in Neyveli in Tamil Nadu and are used for the generation of electricity. Coal that has been buried deep and subjected to increased temperatures is bituminous coal. It is the most popular coal in commercial use.

 

Metallurgical coal is high-grade bituminous coal that has a special value for smelting iron in blast furnaces. Anthracite is the highest quality hard coal. In India, coal occurs in rock series of two main geological ages, namely Gondwana, a little over 200 million years in age, and in tertiary deposits which are only about 55 million years old.

 

The major resources of Gondwana coal, which are metallurgical coal, are located in Damodar valley (West Bengal-Jharkhand). Jharia, Raniganj, Bokaro are important coalfields. The Godavari, Mahanadi, Son, and Wardha valleys also contain coal deposits.

 

Tertiary coals occur in the northeastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, and Nagaland. Remember coal is a bulky material, which loses weight on use as it is reduced to ash. Hence, heavy industries and thermal power stations are located on or near the coalfields.

 

Petroleum

 

Petroleum or mineral oil is the next major energy source in India after coal. It provides fuel for heat and lighting, lubricants for machinery, and raw materials for a number of manufacturing industries. Petroleum refineries act as a �nodal industry� for synthetic textile, fertilizer, and numerous chemical industries.

 

Most of the petroleum occurrences in India are associated with anticlines and fault traps in the rock formations of the tertiary age. In regions of folding, anticlines, or domes, it occurs where oil is trapped in the crest of the fold.

 

The oil-bearing layer is a porous limestone or sandstone through which oil may flow. The oil is prevented from rising or sinking by intervening in non-porous layers. Petroleum is also found in fault traps between porous and non-porous rocks.

 

Gas, being lighter usually occurs above the oil. About 63 percent of India�s petroleum production is from Mumbai High, 18 percent from Gujarat, and 16 percent from Assam. Ankleshwar is the most important field of Gujarat. Assam is the oldest oil-producing state in India. Digboi, Naharkatiya, and Moran-Hugrijan are the important oil fields in the state.

 

Natural Gas

 

Natural gas is an important clean energy resource found in association with or without petroleum. It is used as a source of energy as well as an industrial raw material in the petrochemical industry.

 

Natural gas is considered an environment-friendly fuel because of low carbon dioxide emissions and is, therefore, the fuel for the present century. Large reserves of natural gas have been discovered in the Krishna- Godavari basin. Along the west coast, the reserves of the Mumbai High and allied fields are supplemented by finds in the Gulf of Cambay.

 

Andaman and Nicobar islands are also important areas having large reserves of natural gas. The 1700 km long Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur cross country gas pipeline links Mumbai High and Bassien with the fertilizer, power, and industrial complexes in western and northern India.

 

This artery has provided an impetus to India�s gas production. The power and fertilizer industries are the key users of natural gas. The use of Compressed Natural Gas (CNG ) for vehicles to replace liquid fuels is gaining wide popularity in the country.

 

Electricity

 

Electricity has such a wide range of applications in today�s world that, its per capita consumption is considered as an index of development. Electricity is generated mainly in two ways: by running water which drives hydro turbines to generate hydroelectricity; and by burning other fuels such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas to drive turbines to produce thermal power. Once generated the electricity is exactly the same.

 

Hydroelectricity is generated by fast-flowing water, which is a renewable resource. India has a number of multi-purpose projects like the BhakraNangal, Damodar Valley Corporation, the KopiliHydel Project, etc. producing hydroelectric power. Thermal electricity is generated by using coal, petroleum, and natural gas. The thermal power stations use non-renewable fossil fuels for generating electricity. There are over 310 thermal power plants in India.

 

Read More: Sources of Energy: Conventional and Non-Conventional | Types of Energy