Economic growth,fossil fuel and non-fossil consumption: A Pooled Mean Group analysis using proxies for capital

This study employs a Pooled Mean Group estimator to examine the nexus between economic growth and fossil and non-fossil fuel consumption for 53 countries between 1990 and 2012. The global sample was divided into four categories: developed exporters, developed importers, developing exporters and developing importers. The purpose of these categories was to observe whether factors unique to these countries influence the relationship between energy consumption and economic growth. With the exception of developing importers, evidence of bi-directional causality between fossil fuel consumption and real GDP across all subsamples is observed. This leads to the conclusion that efforts to directly conserve fossil fuels may harm economic growth. In terms of non-fossil fuel use, the results are more diverse. Bi-directional causality between non-fossil fuel use and real GDP is found in the long and short run for developed importers; bi-directional causality only in the long run for developed exporters; negative long-run causality from real GDP to non-fossil fuels for developing exporters; and long-run causality from non-fossil fuel use to real GDP for developing importers. These results lead to the conclusion that other factors have been responsible for the progress seen in non-fossil fuel use. Thus it is concluded that economic growth on its own is insufficient to promote clean energy development. There is a need for policy makers to create an environment conducive to renewable energy investment.     

Renewable energy consumption and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of OECD countries

This study examines the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth for a panel of twenty OECD countries over the period 1985–2005 within a multivariate framework. Given the relatively short span of the time series data, a panel cointegration and error correction model is employed to infer the causal relationship. The heterogeneous panel cointegration test reveals a long-run equilibrium relationship between real GDP, renewable energy consumption, real gross fixed capital formation, and the labor force with the respective coefficients positive and statistically significant. The Granger-causality results indicate bidirectional causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in both the short- and long-run.     

The causal relationship between energy resources and economic growth in Brazil

This study investigates the causal relationship between clean and non-clean energy consumption and economic growth in Brazil over the period of 1980–2009. Clean energy consumption at aggregated level of total renewable energy consumption and disaggregated levels of hydroelectric, new renewables, and nuclear energy consumption are tested within a production function framework. A cointegration test reveals a long-term equilibrium relationship between real output, capital, labor, and renewable and non-renewable energy consumption at aggregated level, and a long-term equilibrium relationship between real output, capital, labor, and hydroelectric/new renewables/nuclear and fossil fuel energy consumption at disaggregated level. The capital, labor, and new renewables elasticities of real output are positive and statistically significant, other energy consumption item's elasticities are insignificant. The results from error correction model reveal the interdependencies between new renewables, nuclear, fossil fuel, and total non-renewable energy consumption and economic growth, the unidirectional causality from hydroelectric/total renewable consumption to economic growth, the substitutability between new renewables and fossil fuel consumption, and the substitutability between new renewables and nuclear energy consumption. Additionally, nuclear and new renewables energy consumption responds to bring the system back to equilibrium. Overall, aggregated analysis may obscure the relationship between different types of clean energy consumption and economic growth.     

The renewable energy consumption–growth nexus in Central America

This study examines the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth for a panel of six Central American countries over the period 1980–2006. The heterogeneous panel cointegration test reveals a long-run equilibrium relationship between real GDP, renewable energy consumption, real gross fixed capital formation, and the labor force with the respective coefficients positive and statistically significant. The results from the panel error correction model indicate bidirectional causality between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in both the short- and long-run.     

Renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and economic activities: Further evidence from OECD countries

This article examines the dynamic relationship between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption and industrial output and GDP growth in OECD countries using data over the period of 1980–2011. The panel cointegration technique allowing structural breaks is used for empirical investigation. The results show that there is a long-term equilibrium relationship among non-renewable and renewable energy sources, industrial output and economic growth. The panel causality analyses show bidirectional causality between industrial output and both renewable and non-renewable energy consumption in the short and long run. However, there is evidence of bidirectional short-run relationship between GDP growth and non-renewable energy consumption while unidirectional causality between GDP growth and renewable energy consumption. These results indicate that OECD economies still remain energy-dependent for their industrial output as well as overall economic growth. However, expansion of renewable energy sources is a viable solution for addressing energy security and climate change issues, and gradually substituting renewable to non-renewable energy sources could enhance a sustainable energy economy.     

The impact of renewable energy consumption to economic growth: A replication and extension of

This study replicates and extends the results presented in a top-cited article in this journal, Inglesi-Lotz (2016), which analyzes the impact of renewable energy consumption to economic growth for the OECD countries by applying the ordinary least squares with fixed effect estimator on the data from 1990 to 2010. By using the same data and methods, this study first produces and compare empirical results with those reported in the original article. Then, it applies a set of new econometric methods on the same data to address heterogeneity in renewable energy and economic growth across the analyzed group of countries. The panel quantile regression estimation shows that the effect of renewable energy consumption on economic growth is positive for lower and low-middle quantiles; however, its effect becomes negative for middle, high-middle, and higher quantiles when renewable energy consumption is proxied by the absolute value. Furthermore, a negative impact of renewable energy on economic growth is observed in almost all quantiles when it is proxied by the share of renewable energy consumption to total energy consumption. These results greatly differ from those of the original study     

Renewable energy and macroeconomic efficiency of OECD and non-OECD economies

This article analyzes the effects of renewable energy on the technical efficiency of 45 economies during the 2001–2002 period through data envelopment analysis (DEA). In our DEA model, labor, capital stock, and energy consumption are the three inputs and real GDP is the single output. Increasing the use of renewable energy improves an economy's technical efficiency. Conversely, increasing the input of traditional energy decreases technical efficiency. Compared to non-OECD economies, OECD economies have higher technical efficiency and a higher share of geothermal, solar, tide, and wind fuels in renewable energy. However, non-OECD economies have a higher share of renewable energy in their total energy supply than OECD economies.     

Measuring the social rate of return to R&D in coal,petroleum and nuclear manufacturing: A study of the OECD countries

This paper estimates the social rate of return to research and development (R&D) in the energy manufacturing industry. Our model tries to quantify the positive contribution that lagged R&D has on total factor productivity (TFP) growth in the manufacturing of coal, petroleum products and nuclear fuel for a number of OECD countries. Using a panel of data from the OECD STAN database we are able to obtain results suggesting that R&D has a positive and significant rate of return that varies for each country.     

Evaluation of new and renewable energy technologies in Korea using real options

For several years recently, the price of oil has fluctuated due to the weak US dollar and financial risks. In particular, the WTI crude oil price reached $147 per barrel in July of 2008, which is the highest price thus far. An awareness of an impending crisis and concern over climate change are driving an increase in R&D for alternative energy sources instead of fossil‐based energy. However, the researches based on traditional method show negative options about the economic value of new and renewable energy. This paper evaluates the value of new and renewable energy through a real option method which considers the uncertainty associated with fossil energy and the uncertainty of the success of R&D. The evaluating model assumes that the fossil energy price follows a geometric mean reverting process and that the probability of success with R&D on renewal forms of energy follows a binomial probability model. The model considers four options: the option to continue R&D, the option to delay R&D, the option to deploy R&D, and the option to abandon R&D. Finally, the value of Korean R&D on renewal forms of energy is analyzed by the model. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Coal consumption and economic growth: Evidence from a panel of OECD countries

This study examines the relationship between coal consumption and economic growth for 25 OECD countries within a multivariate panel framework over period 1980–2005. The Larsson et al. (2001) panel cointegration test indicates there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between real GDP, coal consumption, real gross fixed capital formation, and the labor force. The respective coefficients for real gross fixed capital formation and the labor force are positive and statistically significant whereas the coefficient for coal consumption is negative and statistically significant. The results of the panel vector error correction model reveal bidirectional causality between coal consumption and economic growth in both the short- and long-run; however, the bidirectional causality in the short-run is negative.     

The extraction,conversion and use of energy resources: future challenge to materials technology

Abstract

The growing shortage of all types of fossil fuels, and concerns about global warming are beginning to have a major impact on the power generation and transport sectors. Renewable energy, in conjunction with energy conservation measures such as cogeneration, and the use of biofuels and hydrogen in transport will help extend fossil fuel resources, but there is real need to find and exploit new coal, oil, and gas reserves. Materials technology must play its part in these new developments. Future fossil fuel generating plants will have to capture the carbon dioxide produced, and to compensate for the parasitic power losses this implies, this will require conventional plants to operate at very high temperatures. Likely targets for the strength of advanced austenitics are postulated, and the need to carry out R&D into type IV cracking, dissimilar metal weld issues, and steam side oxidation is emphasised.     

Energy consumption and economic growth in the USA: Evidence from renewable energy

Recent debates about renewable energy consumption manifest two main expectations. Firstly, renewable energy consumption should contribute to economic growth and secondly, it should not cause damage on environment. This study focuses on the first issue by applying Toda–Yamamoto procedure and bootstrap-corrected causality test for the US since empirical literature criticizes the Toda–Yamamoto test which bases on asymptotic distribution. The models consist of real GDP, employment, investment and kinds of renewable energy consumption. Only one causal relationship was found from biomass-waste-derived energy consumption to real GDP. No causal relationship was found between real GDP and all of the other renewable energy kinds—total renewable energy consumption, geothermal energy consumption, hydro-electric energy consumption, biomass energy consumption and biomass-wood-derived energy consumption. That is using of energy from waste cause not only solving the dumping problems but also it contributes to real GDP. For policy purpose, the results of this study suggest that countries should concentrate on energy producing from waste as an alternative energy resource.     

Renewable energy consumption and economic growth in newly industrialized countries: Evidence from asymmetric causality test

In this study, the relationship between renewable energy consumption and economic growth in newly industrialized countries is examined for the period from 1971 to 2011. In previous studies, the causal relationship between variables was performed by the validity of the assumption of positive shocks. This study employs the asymmetric causality approach to investigate the relationship between positive and negative shocks of variables. The results reveal that negative shocks in renewable energy consumption causes positive shocks in real GDP for South Africa and Mexico; negative shocks in renewable energy consumption causes negative shocks in real GDP for India. In addition, the neutrality hypothesis is confirmed for Brazil and Malaysia.     

Spatial relationship between economic growth and renewable energy consumption in 26 European countries

The relationship between economic growth (GDP) and renewable energy consumption in different regions has been studied using diverse methods and data. However, most of these studies focus on the temporal aspect but do not explain the spatial relationship between GDP and renewable energy since they assume that each country is an island unto itself and do not consider the possible spatial relationship between neighbouring countries. In this study, we have used a spatial Durbin model with panel data to investigate the spatial dependence between GDP and renewable energy consumption for 26 European countries over the period 1991–2015. We conclude that spatial dependence leads to a change in renewable energy consumption that affects the GDP of neighbouring countries. Specifically, a 1% increase in the renewable energy consumption of one country will increase economic growth by up to 0.054% in the GDP of its neighbouring countries.     

Energy consumption and economic growth: New insights into the cointegration relationship

This paper examines the long-run relationship between energy consumption and real GDP, including energy prices, for 25 OECD countries from 1981 to 2007. The distinction between common factors and idiosyncratic components using principal component analysis allows to distinguish between developments on an international and a national level as drivers of the long-run relationship. Indeed, cointegration between the common components of the underlying variables indicates that international developments dominate the long-run relationship between energy consumption and real GDP. Furthermore, the results suggest that energy consumption is price-inelastic. Causality tests indicate the presence of a bi-directional causal relationship between energy consumption and economic growth.     

Switching towards coal or renewable energy? The effects of financial capital on energy transitions

Does a country's stock of financial capital affect its ability to achieve energy transitions? This paper uses data for up to 137 countries for the period 1998–2013 to investigate the importance of financial capital for changes in the use of each energy type. I find that financial capital supports transition to more capital-intensive energy types. For high-income countries, financial capital facilitates transitions from fossil fuels to modern renewable energy sources, especially wind. Both private credit from banks and domestic private debt securities support greater shares of wind energy. For lower-income countries, financial capital supports progression from biomass towards fossil fuel energy sources such as coal. I also find that countries with larger stocks of financial capital are more likely to move to more capital-intensive electricity generation systems.     

Sustainable energy development: The present (2009) situation and possible paths to the future

Recent estimates and forecasts of the oil, gas, coal resources and their reserve/production ratio, nuclear and renewable energy potential, and energy uses are surveyed. A brief discussion of the status, sustainability (economic, environmental and social impact), and prospects of fossil, nuclear and renewable energy use, and of power generation (including hydrogen, fuel cells, micropower systems, and the futuristic concept of generating power in space for terrestrial use), is presented. Comments about energy use in general, with more detailed focus on insufficiently considered areas of transportation and buildings are brought up. Ways to resolve the problem of the availability, cost, and sustainability of energy resources alongside the rapidly rising demand are discussed. The author’s view of the promising energy R&D areas, their potential, foreseen improvements and their time scale, and last year’s trends in government funding are presented.     

Drivers for renewable energy: A comparison among OECD countries

The difference in the shares of renewable energy in total primary energy supply among OECD countries is immense. We attempt to identify some key factors that may have driven this difference for renewable energy in general and bioenergy in particular. We found that besides country-specific factors, gross national product (GDP) and renewable energy and bioenergy market deployment policies have significant and positive impacts on the per capita supply of both renewable energy and bioenergy in OECD countries. R&D expenditures, energy prices, CO₂ emissions, and other energy policies are statistically insignificant in terms of their impact on renewable energy and bioenergy supply. However, this does not necessarily mean that they are not potential drivers for renewable energy and bioenergy, but rather suggests that their magnitudes have not been big enough to significantly influence energy supply based on the historical data from 1994 to 2003. These findings lead to useful policy implications for countries attempting to promote renewable energy and bioenergy development.     

Investment in oil and gas field materials technology – the key to a secure energy supply

Abstract

Many national and international programmes have renewable energies as a prime focus for long term R&D investment. This focus arises from an environmental perspective and the objective of a carbon abatement energy society, and may also be fuelled by often over-dramatised reports of declining oil and gas reserves. It is argued that investment in oil and gas must be a vital component of R&D planning and energy policy if energy supplies are to be assured, and that advances in materials and materials technologies will be key to these efforts.     

Energy resources and use: The present (2008) situation and possible sustainable paths to the future

Recent estimates and forecasts of the oil, gas, and coal resources and their reserve/production ratio, nuclear and renewable energy potential, and energy uses are surveyed. A brief discussion of the status and prospects of fossil, nuclear and renewable energy use, and of power generation (including hydrogen, fuel cells, micropower systems, and the futuristic concept of generating power in space for terrestrial use) is given. Ways to resolve the problem of the availability, cost, and sustainability of energy resources alongside the rapidly rising demand are discussed. The author's view of the promising energy R&D areas, their potential, foreseen improvements and their time scale, and last year's trends in government funding, are presented.