ABSTRACT
Energy is the fourth of the basic needs of human groups, along with food, clothing and shelter. It is of vital need to human civilization and an intense current concern. The demand for energy depends upon population growth, the rate of economic development, urbanization, changing lifestyles, availability of resources and the prices of various energy carriers. How are these demands met? Human groups are dynamic and hence are always exploring, experimenting and learning from the behaviour of their surroundings. Human groups are on the lookout for ways of getting energy in a useful form. They discover raw materials to use, search for them and invent methods of converting them to suitable forms to meet needs. In other words, the supply of energy depends on the ingenuity and strategy of humans’ interaction with their environment. The energy issue is primarily a technological problem. An ideal source of energy, to be of some benefit to society and improve the quality of life, must be economically viable, environmentally sustainable and socially acceptable. Energy being the need of the day, it plays a significant role in the development of society. However, the development in energy utilization has been a highly uneven process. While in some countries the per-capita energy consumption is increasing exponentially, in others it has even shown a decrease. In India, we see fuel-wood stoves alongside nuclear devices; likewise, space vehicles coexist with bullock carts. The future of energy seems uncertain. At the beginning of the twentieth century, nuclear energy was unheard of. Today, the world abounds with nuclear reactors.
