• Energy Research

Abstract Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is inefficient for evaluating sustainable development, and the most suitable indicator for this is the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW). This paper focuses on distinguishing the ISEW from GDP, mainly through the study of the energy consumption - economic growth nexus. The traditional hypotheses were tested using a Panel-Corrected Standard Errors estimator for twenty-two countries for the time span from 1995 to 2013. The findings show substantial differences between GDP and ISEW. This paper contributes to the discussion about the consequences of these two approaches for the design of suitable policies for a sustainable future.

Abstract The interactions between electricity generation sources and industrial production in Greece were analysed from August 2004 to October 2013. Greece has been subject to a tough economic adjustment under external financial assistance guidelines. In the meantime, the country has remained committed to international agreements concerning the use of renewables. The variables interact with each other, and this endogeneity has been analysed using a VECM model. A short-run, causal relationship from conventional fossil sources to economic growth, was proved. However, there is no evidence of causal relationships from renewable electricity to economic growth, either in the short- or long-run. Only economic growth gives rise to renewable electricity, whether in the short- or long-run. A fresh insight on the current state of dynamics between electricity sources within an electricity generation system, is thus added to the literature. These findings will inform energy policymakers in designing policies both to encourage the incorporation of national technology into renewables and to reduce electricity consumption without hampering economic growth.

With the growing population and increasing purchasing power, the sustainability of the food sector is questioned as environmental externalities derive from consumption, mainly the emission of greenhouse gases, which contribute to climate change. Academic literature has suggested strategies to efficiently manage food consumption, but one of the main implications is to reduce meat consumption. Such a reduction would mitigate climate change and other environmental externalities as well as reduce health-related problems. However, the livestock sector is also a relevant economic sector for the subsistence of any economy. Therefore, this reduction could threaten economic growth. Following a sample of 14 European high-income countries over more than four decades, the impact of food consumption on economic growth is assessed. Results suggest that both meat and plant-based consumption contribute positively to economic growth. Consequently, a reduction in meat consumption could have a negative impact on the economy. However, strategies to both reduce meat consumption and promote economic growth are discussed in line with the results, with plant-based foods as an efficient option to solve the dilemma. Furthermore, specific strategies for both the supply and the demand side, education on food production and consumption are recommended, particularly in primary schools. Children could learn about healthy and sustainable dietary habits that would not hamper economic growth, as these should be the seeds of future consumption habits.

Abstract This study was developed according to a two-step approach. In the first step, we provide an investigation of the changes in eco-efficiency under constant and variable return to scale, while on a second step the evaluation of the decoupling elasticity will be given. The impacts of energy, economic and environmental determinants (inputs) on the performance indicators of eco-efficiency were calculated as the inverse of the carbon intensity (ratio of the GDP over the CO2 emissions, both from the World Development Indicators database), the changes in eco-efficiency and the decoupling elasticity between CO2 emissions, and economic growth changes. Data was used for 16 Latin America countries, according to five-year periods, from 1994 to 2013. For all the five-time span considered, it is worth noting, that the degree of technical efficiency for the Latin America countries is lower than the degree of technological efficiency, thus indicating that a portion of the overall inefficiency is due to the fact that these countries are producing below the production frontier rather than to an inefficient use of technology. On average, the results have confirmed that the technological scale change in energy production is the dominant factor influencing the optimal production frontier in the sample of countries under analysis. Complementarily, according to the mixed results from the decoupling analysis, we may conclude that the increase/decrease of the CO2 per capita emissions was due to other economic and environmental factors rather than to a negative/positive effect of the GDP growth rate.

Abstract This paper applies panel data techniques to analyze the role of the various energy sources in economic growth, for a set of 24 European countries (1990–2007), controlling for energy consumption and energy dependency. The results suggest that the negative effect of the use of renewables supplants the positive effect of creating income by exploiting a natural resource locally, and thus growth does not appear to improve with the change towards renewables. The high costs of promoting renewables are probably being placed excessively upon the economy, namely by increasing the costs of electricity tariffs, thus inducing a deceleration in economic activity. Fossil fuels lead to dissimilar effects on growth while natural gas does not appear to be relevant in explaining growth. Coal hampers the capacity for growth, whereas the use of oil stimulates that growth. This is in line with productive structures that are deeply grounded in fossil fuels, particularly oil.

The impact of renewable energy policies in carbon dioxide emissions was analysed for a panel of ten Latin American countries, for the period from 1991 to 2012. Panel autoregressive distributed lag methodology was used to decompose the total effect of renewable energy policies on carbon dioxide emissions in its short- and long-run components. There is evidence for the presence of cross-sectional dependence, confirming that Latin American countries share spatial patterns. Heteroskedasticity, contemporaneous correlation, and first-order autocorrelation cross-sectional dependence are also present. To cope with these phenomena, the robust dynamic Driscoll-Kraay estimator, with fixed effects, was used. It was confirmed that the primary energy consumption per capita, in both the short- and long-run, contributes to an increase in carbon dioxide emissions, and also that renewable energy policies in the long-run, and renewable electricity generation per capita both in the short- and long-run, help to mitigate per capita carbon dioxide emissions.

Abstract This paper seeks to analyse the adoption of Energy Efficiency Measures in non-residential buildings. Based on the concepts of agency theory and absorptive capacity, the propensity of Micro-, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises in Portugal to adopt energy efficiency in lighting, insulation, and the replacement and operation of heating, was evaluated. To achieve this, an online survey was carried out, and the resultant data was treated using Probit models. The main findings suggest that absorptive capacity factors are a key reason for adopting more efficient and profitable technologies. Policymakers should provide assistance and information to the managers of these enterprises regarding the benefits of energy efficiency measures. Additionally, this paper shows that subsidiary enterprises are more likely to adopt energy efficiency measures. Although subsidiaries suffer pressures due to agency theory factors, they may also benefit from knowledge transfers from their parent enterprises. Most of the decisions and barriers considered by enterprises are not based on audits or the advice of energy management professionals, since more than 65% of the respondents have never performed an energy audit, and over 82% do not have an energy manager.