India's per capita commercial energy consumption is just one-fourth of the world average. Rapid population growth coupled with urbanization and industrialization has resulted in commercial energy requirements spiraling upwards and the impacts of this are already visible on the environment and the economy. Despite the process of development, traditional biomass fuels (characterized by low efficiencies and high levels of pollution) continue to meet about 40% of the country's energy requirements. There exists an enormous scope for technological improvements and energy savings in all energy-consuming sectors and this is vindicated by the fact that the energy intensity of India is many times higher than that in developed countries. This paper attempts to highlight the potential for meeting India's rapidly growing energy needs in a sustainable manner. This would be possible through the enhanced use of renewables (in which India has a high potential), DSM (demand side management) measures as well as efficiency improvements in energy generation and use. Though the Indian energy sector has witnessed a flurry of reforms in the post-liberalization era (over the nineties), it is felt that some of the policies have ignored the inter-linkages among various energy sectors and the feasibility of enforcing various regulations. The paper concludes that for the reforms process to be effective, it is imperative to formulate an integrated energy policy for the country and to ensure that policies are implemented in a directed and timely manner.
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