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Revisiting the Nexus between Energy Consumption and Economic Activity

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "C: Energy Economics and Policy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (28 August 2019) | Viewed by 20116

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Shinji Kaneko

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Guest Editor

Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation, Hiroshima University, Higashihiroshima 739-8527, Japan
Interests: development and environment; field experiments; environmental economics and policy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Ayyoob Sharifi

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Guest Editor

The IDEC Institute & Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS), Hiroshima University, 1-5-1, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8529, Japan
Interests: urban resilience; smart cities; climate change adapatation and mitigation; neighborhood planning; eco-urbanism
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Dr. Keisuke Kawata

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Guest Editor

Institute of Scoail Science, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
Interests: Causal Inference; Machine Learning; Applied Economics; Public Policy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The nexus between energy consumption and economic activity has been studied for decades since, on the one hand, economic activity is used as a primary predictor of changes in energy demand and, on the other hand, energy is regarded as one of the important inputs for economic activity. This Special Issue revisits and renews the nexus to gain new academic insights while incorporating four recent developments related to: 1) new policy and institutional agendas such as the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change, renewable energy, non-conventional fossil energy, and energy efficiency governance that have emerged and significantly alter the dynamics of the nexus; 2) the methodological advancements that allow us to elaborate the differences across causality, correlation, confounder, moderator, mediator, and covariate that significantly improve our understanding of the nexus; 3) the increasing availability of big data that instigates methodological transformations and allows us to highlight new dimensions of the nexus such as distributional variations, multiple interactions and detailed time variances; and 4) the increasing availability of data in developing countries that provides experimental opportunities.

Prof. Dr. Shinji Kaneko
Prof. Ayyoob Sharifi
Assoc. Prof. Keisuke Kawata
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

energy efficiency governance
renewable energy
energy security
sustainable development goals (SDGs)
causal inference
randomized control trial (RCT)
big data
energy consumption
economic activity
decoupling economic growth and energy consumption (CO2 emissions)
climate change mitigation

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

27 pages, 909 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Exploring the Causal Nexus between Energy Consumption, Environmental Pollution and Economic Growth: Empirical Evidence from Central and Eastern Europe

by Daniel Ştefan Armeanu, Ştefan Cristian Gherghina and George Pasmangiu

Energies 2019, 12(19), 3704; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en12193704 - 27 Sep 2019

Cited by 39 | Viewed by 3679

Abstract

Energy is considered a critical driver of social and economic progress, but the use of conventional energy from fossil fuel sources is viewed as the main contributor to greenhouse gases that cause global warming. To overcome such issues, renewable energy technologies appeared as a viable substitute which lessens pollutant emissions and protect the environment. This paper investigates the impact of energy consumption and environmental pollution on economic growth, also exploring the causal associations, for a sample of 11 Central and Eastern European states over the period 2000 to 2016. The outcomes of panel data regressions indicate evidence of a non-linear link between renewable energy (both overall, as well as in form of hydro and wind power) and gross domestic product per capita growth. The non-linear relations were also established in case of alternative & nuclear energy and fossil fuel energy consumption. However, the influence of non-renewable energy on growth was not statistically significant, whereas greenhouse gases emissions exhibited mostly a positive impact on economic growth. The robustness checks by panel fully modified and dynamic ordinary least squares showed almost the similar pattern of results. The results of Granger causalities within six panel vector error correction models supported in the short-run the conservation hypothesis for renewable energy (overall), but also for hydro power and solid biofuels, excluding charcoal. In the long-run the growth hypothesis was established for renewable energy (overall), along with wind power, solid biofuels, excluding charcoal and geothermal energy. The findings imply that CEECs policy makers should consider imperative investments in the development of renewable energy sector. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Revisiting the Nexus between Energy Consumption and Economic Activity)

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21 pages, 3461 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Impact of an Energy Efficiency Improvement Policy on the Economic Performance of Electricity-Intensive Firms in Ghana

by Chui Ying Lee, Samuel Lotsu, Moinul Islam, Yuichiro Yoshida and Shinji Kaneko

Energies 2019, 12(19), 3684; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en12193684 - 26 Sep 2019

Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2287

Abstract

This paper investigates the economic impact of an energy efficiency improvement policy on electricity-intensive firms in Ghana. The policy imposed a penalty on these electricity-intensive firms, which are referred to as special load tariff (SLT) customers, when their power factor was below 90%. This paper applies the regression discontinuity design (RDD) to the panel data of these SLTs ranging from 1994 to 2012, excluding those years characterized by energy crisis. The results show adverse impacts of the policy on the employment and salary levels of the firms in the long run, in particular, the small- and medium–voltage firms. The results indicate that small- and medium–voltage firms are economically vulnerable to the penalty policy in the long run and recommend two policies to overcome this challenge. Firstly, the penalty for power factor improvement should not be imposed identically across firms with different voltage levels. Secondly, firms that satisfy the power factor standard should receive subsidies to improve their competitiveness in the market. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Revisiting the Nexus between Energy Consumption and Economic Activity)

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14 pages, 1971 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Can Nighttime Light Data Be Used to Estimate Electric Power Consumption? New Evidence from Causal-Effect Inference

by Yongguang Zhu, Deyi Xu, Saleem H. Ali, Ruiyang Ma and Jinhua Cheng

Energies 2019, 12(16), 3154; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en12163154 - 16 Aug 2019

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 3107

Abstract

Nighttime light data are often used to estimate some socioeconomic indicators, such as energy consumption, GDP, population, etc. However, whether there is a causal relationship between them needs further study. In this paper, we propose a causal-effect inference method to test whether nighttime light data are suitable for estimating socioeconomic indicators. Data on electric power consumption and nighttime light intensity in 77 countries were used for the empirical research. The main conclusions are as follows: First, nighttime light data are more appropriate for estimating electric power consumption in developing countries, such as China, India, and others. Second, more latent factors need to be added into the model when estimating the power consumption of developed countries using nighttime light data. Third, the light spillover effect is relatively strong, which is not suitable for estimating socioeconomic indicators in the contiguous regions between developed countries and developing countries, such as Spain, Turkey, and others. Finally, we suggest that more attention should be paid in the future to the intrinsic logical relationship between nighttime light data and socioeconomic indicators. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Revisiting the Nexus between Energy Consumption and Economic Activity)

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15 pages, 243 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperEditor’s ChoiceArticle

The Effect of Renewable Energy Consumption on Sustainable Economic Development: Evidence from Emerging and Developing Economies

by Mun Mun Ahmed and Koji Shimada

Energies 2019, 12(15), 2954; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en12152954 - 31 Jul 2019

Cited by 85 | Viewed by 7137

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to figure out the nexus between renewable energy consumption and sustainable economic development for emerging and developing countries. In this paper, a panel of 30 emerging and developing countries is selected using the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank, Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index (RECAI) by Ernst and Young, and a random selection method based on the current trend of renewable energy consumption for five different regions of the world i.e., Asia, South-Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Caribbean. To achieve the objective, robust panel econometric models such as the Pesaran cross-section dependence (CD) test, second generation panel unit root test, e.g., cross-sectional augmented IPS test (CIPS) proposed by Pesran (2007), panel co-integration test, fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) are applied to check the cross-sectional dependence, heterogeneity and long-term relationship among variables. The panel is strongly balanced and the findings suggest a significant long-run relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth for selected South Asian, Asian and most of the African countries (Ghana, Tunisia, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Cameroon). But for the Latin American and the Caribbean countries, economic growth depends on non-renewable energy consumption. Renewable energy consumption in the selected countries of these two regions are still at the initial stage. In case of the renewable energy consumption and

{CO}_{2}

emissions nexus, for selected South Asian, Asian, Latin American and African countries both GDP and non-renewable energy consumption cause the increase of

{CO}_{2}

emissions. For the Caribbean countries only non-renewable energy consumption causes the increase of

{CO}_{2}

emissions. An important finding regarding renewable energy consumption-economic growth nexus indicates the existence of bi-directional causality. This supports the existence of a feedback hypothesis for the emerging and developing economies. In the case of renewable energy consumption-

{CO}_{2}

emissions nexus, there exists unidirectional causality. This supports the existence of the conservation hypothesis, where

{CO}_{2}

emissions necessitates the renewable energy consumptions. Based on the findings, the study proposes possible policy options. The countries, who have passed the take-off stage of renewable energy consumption, can take advanced policy initiatives e.g., feed-in tariff, renewable portfolio standard and green certificate for long-term economic development. Other countries can undertake subsidy, low interest loan and market development to facilitate the renewable energy investments. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Revisiting the Nexus between Energy Consumption and Economic Activity)

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26 pages, 1611 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Effects of Electrification on School Enrollment in Bangladesh: Short- and Long-Run Perspectives

by Mohammad Jahangir Alam and Shinji Kaneko

Energies 2019, 12(4), 629; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/en12040629 - 15 Feb 2019

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3125

Abstract

This paper aims to show the impact of access to electricity on school enrollment in Bangladesh. It offers an empirical investigation of the relationship between access to electricity and school enrollment statuses, such as grade progression, repetition, and non-attendance. The data were taken from Bangladesh’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) database 2012–2013 provided by the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS) and UNICEF; the data include two years of grading information for children of ages ranging from 5–15. We applied the propensity score matching (PSM) and the Markov schooling transition model using matched sample data. The results show that access to electricity has a significant positive effect on grade progression and a significant negative effect on non-attendance in the short run as well as in the long run. The simulation result shows that the non-attendance rate is lower and the school enrollment rate for children grades 9-11 is higher in the electrified areas compared to unelectrified areas. This result suggests that access to electricity is an important strategic indicator for increasing school enrollment in both primary and secondary schools. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Revisiting the Nexus between Energy Consumption and Economic Activity)

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