Assessment of Energy–Population–Urbanization Nexus with Changing Energy Industry Scenario in India

Ram Avtar, Saurabh Tripathi and Ashwani Kumar Aggarwal
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Ram Avtar: Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan
Saurabh Tripathi: Graduate School of Environmental Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0810, Japan
Ashwani Kumar Aggarwal: Electrical and Instrumentation Engineering department, Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering and Technology, Longowal-148106, Punjab, India

Land, 2019, vol. 8, issue 8, 1-19

Abstract: The demand for energy has been growing worldwide, especially in India partly due to the rapid population growth and urbanization of the country. To meet the ever-increasing energy requirement while maintaining an ecological balance is a challenging task. However, the energy industry-induced effect on population and urbanization has not been addressed before. Therefore, this study investigates the linkages between energy, population, and urbanization. The study also aims to find the quantifiable indicators for the population growth and rate of urbanization due to the expanding energy industry. The integrated framework uses a multi-temporal Landsat data to analyze the urbanization pattern, a census data for changes in population growth, night time light (NTL) data as an indicator for economic development and energy production and consumption data for energy index. Multi-attribute model is used to calculate a unified metric, termed as the energy–population–urbanization (EPU) nexus index. The proposed approach is demonstrated in the National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Dadri power plant located in Uttar Pradesh, India. Landsat and NTL data clearly shows the urbanization pattern, economic development, and electrification in the study area. A comparative analysis based on various multi-attribute decision model assessment techniques suggests that the average value of EPU nexus index is 0.529, which significantly large compared to other studies and require special attention by policymakers because large EPU index indicates stronger correlation among energy, population, and urbanization. The authors believe that it would help the policymakers in planning and development of future energy projects, policies, and long-term strategies as India is expanding its energy industry.

Keywords: Landsat data; nexus; energy; urbanization; population; thermal power plant; Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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