Indicators of carbon emission intensity from commercial energy use in India

This study tries to analyze the commercial energy consumption evolution pat terns in India in terms of primary energy requirements and final energy con sumption and their implications for overall carbon intensity of the economy . The relative contribution and impact of different factors such as activit y levels, structural changes, energy intensity, fuel mix and fuel quality o n the changes in aggregate carbon intensity of the economy has been studied , taking into account coal quality which has declined drastically in the la st mio decades. The major findings of the study are: firstly, from the 1980 s onwards, income effect has been the major determinant of India's per capi ta emission increase, although prior to that, energy intensity used to be t he most important factor. Secondly, there has been a major shift towards el ectricity from primary energy carriers in the major energy consuming sector s, and the higher end use-efficiency of electricity has been able to compen sate for the high emission coefficient of electricity consumption. Thirdly, emission intensity of thermal power generation shows a substantial decline when the data is controlled for the declining quality of coal used in powe r generation. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. JEL class ifications: Q41; O53.