# Dairy Waste and Potential of Small-Scale Biogas Digester for Rural Energy in India
## 3 Utilization of Livestock Waste and Renewable Energy Consumption Pattern in Rural India  
Conventionally, livestock waste is used for various purposes such as a source of fuel for cooking, and fertilizer. More recently, livestock waste has been used to feed small-scale biogas digester for producing biogas (Table 2). Subsequently, biogas is used as source of energy for cooking and lighting [37; 38]. Substantial untapped potential exists in rural areas in terms of livestock, which can be further explored through biogas technology [37]. biogas, which contains 60-70% methane is not only useful as a cooking fuel but also can be utilized as a transportation fuel [37; 39; 40]. While the use of biogas as a transportation fuel has been explored, currently biogas uses for transportation is limited [41; 42]. In rural India, energy consumption can be disintegrated into 3 sectors: (1) domestic/household; (2) agriculture; and (3) transportation [41; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47]. Traditionally, livestock and livestock waste has contributed to all three sectors (Figure 3). In the domestic sector, the major tasks which require energy are cooking and lighting. For cooking purposes, wood, dung, and agriculture residues are used often [41; 47]. However, when available, biogas might be used for cooking purposes. For lighting purpose, the two other sources of energy in rural areas are electricity and kerosene (Figure 3). In the agriculture sector, water pumping and agricultural operations such as plowing and harvesting are major drivers for energy demand in rural India. For water pumping, electricity and diesel are two major energy sources [37; 41; 48]. The use of biogas for water pumping has been explored when available. Conventionally, the use of livestock for agricultural operations such as plowing, harvesting, and more recently the uses of diesel and electricity has increased. In the transportation sector, bullock carts (based on livestock power) were popular in India, in addition to the limited uses of tractors (run by diesel). Recently, the uses of animal for transportation have declined substantially, replaced by the uses of internal combustion engine-based transportation vehicles that requires diesel. Considerable potential exists for the uses of biogas as transportation fuel in India [42; 43; 44]. In the past two decades, the use of electricity has increased, and it has surpassed the use of kerosene in rural areas. In rural areas, between 2006-2007, the use of electricity and kerosene in terms of energy were 56% and 42%, respectively [6]. In rural households, average electricity demand is about 39 kWh/month, which is 50% of India average residential consumption [47]. A study by the World Bank reported that about 65.53% of population live in India, and 92.9% of the rural population has access to electricity (in 2018), and 41% of rural population has access to clean fuel-based technologies for cooking purposes [48]. In 2015, India obtained 15.34% of total electricity from renewable sources. Electricity demand in a village is about 1826 kWh/day, and the majority of it is used for household activities. The low consumption of electricity in rural areas in India is potentially due to the uses of fewer appliances, which require electricity such as refrigerators, electric burner, and mixer/grinders [42; 47; 48].