Conventional and Non-Conventional Energy
NCERT Class 8 • Resources and Development • Chapter "Mineral and Power Resources" | NCERT Class 10 • Contemporary India II • Chapter "Minerals and Energy Resources"
Conventional and Non-Conventional Energy
Energy resources are grouped into conventional sources such as coal, petroleum, natural gas, firewood and hydel power, and non-conventional sources such as solar, wind, tidal, geothermal and biogas. Conventional fuels are exhaustible and polluting, so non-conventional sources are being expanded.
Conventional Sources
- Coal is India's most abundant fossil fuel and the main source of thermal power.
- Its grades by carbon content are peat, then lignite or brown coal, then bituminous, and finally anthracite, the hardest with the highest carbon.
- Gondwana coal is the older and better coal, found in the Damodar valley of Jharkhand and West Bengal, and in the Godavari, Mahanadi and Son valleys.
- Tertiary coal is younger and found in the north-east.
- Petroleum occurs in anticlines and fault traps of sedimentary rock; Mumbai High, Gujarat and Assam's Digboi are known fields.
- Natural gas is cleaner and is used as fuel and as industrial raw material; the Krishna Godavari basin is an important source.
- Hydel power uses falling water, is renewable, but needs large dams and displaces people.
- Nuclear power uses uranium and thorium; India has large thorium reserves in the monazite sands of Kerala.
| Coal Grade | Carbon Content | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Peat | Lowest | Poor, high moisture |
| Lignite | Low | Brown coal, soft |
| Bituminous | High | Most used, good quality |
| Anthracite | Highest | Hardest and best |
Non-Conventional Sources
- Solar energy suits India because most regions get clear sunshine for much of the year; Gujarat and Rajasthan have large solar capacity.
- Wind energy needs steady wind; Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka and Maharashtra lead in wind farms.
- Biogas from cattle dung and farm waste gives rural households clean fuel and leaves better manure than direct burning.
- Tidal energy needs a wide funnel shaped bay, so the Gulf of Khambhat and the Gulf of Kachchh are suitable.
- Geothermal energy uses heat from inside the earth, as in the Manikaran project in Himachal Pradesh.
- Non-conventional sources are clean, renewable and suited to scattered rural settlements.
- Their drawbacks are higher initial cost and dependence on weather and location.
- Saving energy through efficient appliances is often cheaper than adding new capacity.
Non-conventional energy — energy from renewable sources such as the sun, wind, tides and biomass, which do not get exhausted with use.
Exam me kaise aata hai
- The best grade of coal is — anthracite
- Digboi oilfield is in — Assam
- Monazite sands of Kerala contain — thorium
- Tidal energy is best suited to — Gulf of Khambhat and Kachchh
UPSC/State PSC ke liye
- India's three stage nuclear programme is designed around its large thorium and limited uranium reserves.
- Solar and wind are variable by nature, so storage and grid balancing decide how much of them the system can actually absorb.
Yahan confuse hote hain
✗ Lignite is better than bituminous coal | Bituminous is better; lignite is soft brown coal | ✓
✗ Gondwana coal is found in the north-east | Gondwana coal is in the Damodar and Son valleys; tertiary coal is in the north-east | ✓
✗ Hydel power is non-conventional | Hydel is a conventional though renewable source | ✓
Ek nazar me
- Conventional: coal, petroleum, natural gas, firewood, hydel.
- Coal grades: peat, lignite, bituminous, anthracite.
- Gondwana coal in the Damodar valley; tertiary coal in the north-east.
- Non-conventional: solar, wind, biogas, tidal, geothermal.