Consumption patterns of energy in rural sector of Sri Lanka - Analysis based on Puttalam district

Abstract

The energy crisis is prominent in developing countries where explosive populations are experiencedwith inefficient utilization of energy and poor technologies. Sri Lanka also fails in meeting the totalnational energy demand and presently seeking for alternatives while scrutinizing the potentials ofefficient use of available energy sources ofbio mass (mainly fuel wood), electricity and petroleum.While bio mass supplies 47.9% of the energy demand of the country, petroleum and hydropowercontribute in 43.3% and 8.7% respectively. The main supply of bio mass is for domestic cookingactivities in the rural sector. Out of the total electricity production of the country, around 39% isconsumed by domestic sector and about 61 % of the households are accessible for consumption ofelectricity. In provincial level, the western province shows the highest consumption of electricity anddemand from other provinces is increasing drastically, mainly with industrial development activitiesand increasing population. However about 20% of electricity is wasted in its transmission. Althoughpetroleum products are used mainly to supply energy for transport and industrial purposes, use ofkerosene for lightening is about 48% of the country. While industrial and transport sectors consume24.4% and 24.8% of whole the supplied energy, 51.1 % is consumed by household, commercial andothers. The inadequacy of energy at an affordable price is prominent in the rural sector, impeding thepeople in stepping into a quality life which stimulates better health practices, opportunities for educationwith information, and chances of income generating activities. However, complete studies with smoothanalyses are imperative in reaching better policies in meeting rural energy demand.

The aim of this study was to investigate the present consumption pattern of fuel wood, Petroleumfuels and electricity as energy sources in the rural setting ofPuttalam district. The results showed thatmore than 94% use firewood as the cooking fuel, which is freely available for them due to closeproximity to the jungles and larger sizes of the home gardens. LPG consumption as a fuel was around5%. About 82% of the sample used electricity as the main energy source for lighting while the restused kerosene. The average monthly expenditure (kerosene, LPG and electricity) for energyconsumption was 7.44%, and that was second only to the average food expenditure of71.3%. Rather,with including a minimum expenditure for firewood, considering the time cost offire wood collection,expenditure on energy became much higher, implicitly implying the prevailing pressure on the remainingfew jungles and forest covers. The econometric results of energy demand indicated that the increasingeducation level. n;onthly income and family size affect significantly on rapid growing demand forenergy, especially cleaner energy.