r~se v--+J' --lo ( ~~Q__ l5v\ £\A~~. Resac,-r<.e> t"Y\ Se~ ~~~,., l\.c2. \}jdclJ~"' W~l~ C.. e "'vac- ,-, ~, ,-o-n }cu~- , The Himalayan Region: ~!. { +1)-t .. ' 6(\ 1 A Historical Perspective on Energy Policies, Environment, and Society 1 {,'h.31A~ -tu-1 J A," Edward S. Haynes Duke University VV\11CM.. ' <:J 81 It is possible to discuss the energy needs and policies of the South Asian subcontinent by focusing on the "high-technology" components of the energy picture, on fossil fuels, hydroelectric plants, nuclear power, energy generation from waste, and the exotic energy sources (solar, geothermal, wind, tidal). While some or all of these will play a significant role in the future energy kaledioscope of the subcontinent and will certainly be vital for the industrial sector, the predominant component of overall energy consumption will almost certainly remain, as it has for millennia, the burning of wood and cowdung. In 1979, firewood and dung dominated rural India's energy consumption patterns, providing, respectively, 69 percent and 8 percent of total energy needs; oil (kerosene for the most part) comprised 17 percent of rural energy, followed by coal at 2 percent, electricity at 1 percent, and by all other 1. Some of the statistical data presented in this paper have been generated as a part of a larger project which examines changes in Land Use in South and Southeast Asia, 1800-1980 (J. F. Richards, primary investigator), and are drawn from our unpublished data base. This work has been supported sub- contract, no. 19X-43361C, between Duke University the Environmental Sciences Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratories, under contract no. DE-AC05- 840R21400 with the U.S. Department of Energy. Significant research in South Asia has been made possible by a grant from the Foreign Currencies Program of the Smithsonian Institution (through the American Institute of Indian Studies), I especially want to acknowledge the considerable assistance of my colleagues in this larger project, John F. Richards, James R. Hagen, Joseph Arlinghaus, Elizabeth P, Flint, and Michael McFarland.