Conventional Sources of Energy - Concepts - Chapter 5 Class 10 Geography - Minerals and Energy Resources - Geography

Conventional sources of energy :

Coal :

• In India, coal is the most abundantly available fossil fuel. 
• It provides a substantial part of a nation's energy needs.
• It is used for power generation, to supply energy to industry as well as for domestic needs.
• India is highly dependent on coal for meeting its commercial energy requirements.
• Coal is formed due to compression of plant material over millions of years.
• Coal is found in variety of forms depending on degrees of compression and depth and time of burial.
• PEAT : Decaying plants in swamps produce peat, which has a low carbon and high moisture content and low heating capacity.
• LIGNITE : i s a low grade brown coal which is soft, with high moisture content.
• Principal lignite reserves are in Nevyeli in Tamil Nadu and are used for generation of electricity. 
• BITUMINOUS : 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 which 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 2 main geological ages, namely Gondwana , little over 200 million years in age and tertiary deposits of about 55 million years old.
• Major resources of gondwana coal, which are metallurgical coal, are located in Damodar Valley ( West bengal- Jharkhand), Jharia, Raniganj, Bokaro are important coalfields,
• The Godavri, Mahanadi, Son and Wardha Valleys also contain coal deposits.
• Tertiary coals occur in north eastern states of Meghalaya, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland.

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 number of manufacturing industries.
• Petroleum refineries act as ‘ nodal industry’ for synthetic textile, fertiliser and numerous chemical industries.
• Most petroleum occurrences in India are associated with anticlines ( fold of a stratified rock) and fault traps in rock formations of tertiary age.
• Petroleum is also found in fault traps between porous and non porous rocks. 
• Mumbai High, Gujarat and Assam are major petroleum production areas in India.
• Ankeleshwar is the most important field of Gujarat.
• Assam is the oldest oil producing state of India.
• Digboi, Naharkatiya and Moran Hugrijan are the most important oil fields in the state.

Natural Gas :

Uses of Natural Gas 

• Natural Gas is found with petroleum deposits and is released when crude oil is brought to the surface.
• It can be used as a domestic and industrial fuel for heating, electricity generation , chemical and fertilizer production , and transportation.
• Expansion of gas infrastructure and local city gas distribution (COD) networks, natural gas is also emerging as a preferred transport fuel (CNG) and cooking fuel (PNG) at homes.
• India has significant gas reserves located in the Mumbai High and allied fields on the west coast , as well as in the Cambay basin.
• More recently, new gas reserves have been identified in the Krishna-Godavari basin on the east coast.  
• The Hazira-Vijaipur-Jagdishpur (HVJ) cross-country gas pipeline was constructed by GAIL (India) and is 1,700 km long .
• The pipeline connects Mumbai High and Bassein gas fields with various fertilizer, power, and industrial complexes in western and northern India .
• Overall, India’s gas infrastructure has expanded over ten times from 1,700 km to 18,500 km of cross-country pipelines.
• The Gas Grid project aims to link all gas sources and markets across the country, including North Eastern states, with a pipeline network of over 34,000 km.

Electricity :

• Has wide range of applications.
• Electricity is generated mainly in 2 ways : by running water which drives hydro turbines to generate hydro electricity ; and by burning other fuels such as coal, petroleum, natural gas to drive turbines to produce thermal power.
• Hydro electricity is generated by fast flowing water, which is a renewable resource.
• India has a number of multi purpose projects like Bhakra Nangal, Damodar Valley corporation, the Kopili Hydel project, etc. producing hydroelectric power.
• Thermal electricity is generated by using coal, petroleum and natural gas.
• Thermal power stations use non renewable fossil fuels for generating electricity.