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Wasteland energy-scapes: a comparative energy flow analysis of India's biofuel and biomass economies

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  • Baka, Jennifer
  • Bailis, Robert

Abstract

Through a comparative energy flow analysis, this paper examines the energy security impacts of growing biofuels on wastelands in South India. India's National Policy on Biofuels claims that wastelands are well suited for biofuel production because they are empty and unused. However, in rural Tamil Nadu, a Prosopis juliflora fuelwood energy economy already exists on these lands and services a mix of rural and urban consumers at household and industrial levels. This Prosopis economy currently provides 2.5–10.3 times more useful energy than would the government's proposed Jatropha curcas biodiesel economy, depending on Jatropha by-product usage. Contrary to the government's claims, growing biofuels on wastelands can weaken, rather than improve, the country's energy security. Further, replacing Prosopis with Jatropha could engender changes in economic and property relations that could further weaken energy security. These findings are not specific to rural Tamil Nadu as Prosopis is widely used as a fuelwood throughout Asia and Africa. Calls to ‘develop’ degraded lands through biofuel promotion similarly exist in these regions. This study underscores the importance of analyzing wasteland-centered biofuel policies at local levels in order to better understand the changes in human–environment relationships resulting from this policy push.

Suggested Citation

  • Baka, Jennifer & Bailis, Robert, 2014. "Wasteland energy-scapes: a comparative energy flow analysis of India's biofuel and biomass economies," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 59896, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
  • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:59896
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/59896/
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Evelien de Hoop & Saurabh Arora, 2017. "Policy Democracy? Social and Material Participation in Biodiesel Policy-Making Processes in India," SPRU Working Paper Series 2017-02, SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex Business School.
    3. Anika Trebbin, 2021. "Land Grabbing and Jatropha in India: An Analysis of ‘Hyped’ Discourse on the Subject," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-21, October.
    4. Searchinger, Timothy D. & Beringer, Tim & Strong, Asa, 2017. "Does the world have low-carbon bioenergy potential from the dedicated use of land?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 110(C), pages 434-446.
    5. Bahers, Jean-Baptiste & Tanguy, Audrey & Pincetl, Stephanie, 2020. "Metabolic relationships between cities and hinterland: a political-industrial ecology of energy metabolism of Saint-Nazaire metropolitan and port area (France)," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 167(C).
    6. Dalemans, Floris & Muys, Bart & Maertens, Miet, 2019. "Adoption Constraints for Small-scale Agroforestry-based Biofuel Systems in India," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 27-39.
    7. Gasparatos, Alexandros & Doll, Christopher N.H. & Esteban, Miguel & Ahmed, Abubakari & Olang, Tabitha A., 2017. "Renewable energy and biodiversity: Implications for transitioning to a Green Economy," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 161-184.
    8. Das, Prantika & Jha, Chandan Kumar & Saxena, Satyam & Ghosh, Ranjan Kumar, 2024. "Can biofuels help achieve sustainable development goals in India? A systematic review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Biofuels; Wood fuels; Wastelands; Energy security; Energy flow analysis; Social metabolism;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R14 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Land Use Patterns
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

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