Sustainable Development by Rural Energy Resources Allocation in India: A Fuzzy Goal Programming Approach

Energy resource planning in rural is a powerful tool for sustainable development. A fuzzy goal programming approach is used for rural energy resource allocation for heating and cooking. The detail survey has been conducted to determine the potential of biogas and biomass and to find energy consumption pattern in the four villages of Buldhana district, Maharashtra, India. Four fuzzy objective functions and six constrains, based on the local availability are considered in this model. Four scenarios have been developed which are equal priority, cost priority, emission priority and local resources priority. Due to vast uncertainty in energy data at micro level, fuzzy goal approach has been found suitable to take into consideration the variation in energy consumption rate. The proposed model can provide the best possible options for micro-level energy planning to the decision maker. Optimized use of energy resources is therefore, the important strategy for sustainable energy development.