ABSTRACT
The total energy consumed by a subsistence household may be quite high, even by the standards of industrial society. Domestic energy consumption in subsistence has the distinguishing features of being both very high and extremely inefficient. Unlike the case of domestic energy consumption, improvements in subsistence production will almost inevitably require substantial increases in the amounts of energy used. The Indian case-study illustrates the difference between domestic and productive energy requirements. The distinction between domestic and productive uses is not made simply for analytic convenience. Attempts to improve energy use are thus far running into a barrier caused by the lack of economic and political power in the subsistence sector. Examination of societies which have made the transition from free-good subsistence fuels shows that this occurs as part of a general economic progression in which fuel supply becomes commercialised.
