1. India is poorly endowed with mineral wealth. Except for iron ore and bauxite our share of world reserves of every other mineral is one percent or less. How­ever, there has been a phenomenal growth in production since independence.

2. As per estimates if the present trend of production continues, we will exhaust our reserves of all the important minerals and fuels, except coal, iron ore, lime­stone and bauxite, in 25 to 30 years.

1. The use of minerals varies greatly between countries.

2. The greatest use of minerals occurs in developed countries.

3. Like other natural resources, mineral deposits are unevenly distributed around on the earth.

4. Some countries are rich in mineral deposits and other countries have no deposits.

5. The use of the mineral depends on its properties. For example aluminium is light but strong and durable so it is used for aircraft, shipping and car industries.

1. Rapid depletion of high grade minerals:

Increasing demand for high grade minerals has compelled miners to carry out more extraction of minerals, which require more energy sources and produce large amount of waste materials.

2. Wastage of upper soil layer and vegetation:

Surface mining results in the complete destruction of upper soil layer and vegetation. After extraction, the wastes are dumped in an area which destroys the total surface and vegetation.

3. Environmental problems:

Over exploitation of mineral resources resulted in many environmental problems like:

1. Conversion of productive land into mining and industrial areas.

2. Mining and extraction process are one of the sources of air, water and land pollution.

3. Mining involves huge consumption of energy resources like coal, petroleum, natural gas etc. which are in-turn non renewable sources of energy.

4. Surface mining directly degrades the fertile soil surface thus effect ecology and climate if that particular area.

India is a fast growing country and therefore, the demand for the energy is also continuously growing. India has exploited almost all the sources of energy such as hydroelectricity, thermal energy, nuclear energy, solar energy, wind energy etc.

Energy Resources in India

• The natural resources for electricity generation in
India are unevenly dispersed and concentrated in a
few pockets. Hydro resources are located in the
Himalayan foothill!; and :in the North-Eastern Region
(NER).
• Coal reserves are concentrated in Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, parts of Madhya Pradesh, whereas lignite is located in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat.
• North Eastern Reg.on, Sikkim and Bhutan have vast untapped hydro potential estimated to be about 35000 MW in NEF., about 8000 MW in Sikkim and about 15000 MW in Bhutan.


Conventional Sources of Energy

The conventional sources of energy are generally known as non-renewable sources of energy. They are being used since a long time. Conventional sources of energy are coal, petroleum, natural gas, cattle dung cake, hydro power.

Thermal Energy

• Thermal electricity is produced with the help of coal, petroleum and natural gas. About 65%, of the total electricity produced is thermal in character.
• Thermal electricity has special significance in those areas, where geographical conditions are not very favourable for generation of hydroelectricity. It accounts for more than half of the installed capacity in 14 states.

Hydro Electricity
• Hydroelectric power play a significant role in view of the energy crisis, which India is currently facing.
• The hydroelectric power generation in India made a humble start at the end of the 19th century, with the commissioning of electricity supply in Darjeeling during 1897, followed by a hydropower station at Sivasamudram in Karnataka during 1902.



Non-Conventional Sources of Energy

• Most of non-conventional energy are renewable in nature. The non-conventional energy sources include solar energy, wind energy, biomass energy, fuel cell, electric vehicles, tidal energy, hydrogen energy and geothermal energy.
• The renewable energy programme started with the establishment of the Department of Non-conventional Energy Sources in 1982 in India. Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency was set-up in 1987.
• In 1992, DNES was converted into Ministry of Non-conventional Energy Sources, which is renamed in 2006 as Minister of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE). The minister, now has taken up some programmes on various new technologies.


Solar Ene1rgy
• India being 1 tropical country is well endowed with
plenty of solar energy.
• In India, th< solar energy is exploited through both the
thermal and photovoltaic routes for a variety of
applications like cooking, water heating, drying of the
farm products, water pumping, street lighting etc.
Wind Energy

Wind is an important non-conventional energy resource. It is cheap, pollution free, eco-friendly and can be developed away from the sources of fossil fuels.
• For generation of wind energy, a wind speed of more than 5 km per hour is considered to be suitable.

Geothermal Energy
• It is the heat energy in the Earth's interior. In the Earth's crust, for instance, the temperature rises by 1 Degree C for every 30 m.
• This energy can be tapped for our needs. However, such energy is largely concentrated in volcanic regions of the Earth and deep drilling techniques arc not yet economical.


Tidal Energy

• Among the various forms of energy contained in the seas and oceans, tidal energy, has been developed on a commercial scale.
• India has a long coastline with the estuaries and gulfs, where tides are strong enough to move turbines for electrical power generation.