Chapter 24 - Choice among alternatives—an evaluation of Indian energy basket

Abstract

The present chapter attempts to investigate the possible influence of primary, nuclear, and renewable energy consumption on carbon dioxide emissions in case of a developing country, namely, India. Applying an autoregressive distributed lag model in a STIRPAT analytical setting, income per-capita is found to impact the CO2 emissions positively in long-run and negatively in short-run, signifying the relevance of N-shaped Environmental Kuznets Curve. Population growth and primary energy consumption are reported to escalate the CO2 emissions in both long-run and short-run, hence constitute prominent candidates for causing environmental degradation. On the contrary, renewable and nuclear energy consumption is found to decrease the emissions. Although empirically appealing as a solution for climate change problem, the decision about the choice between nuclear, renewable, or the conventional fossils should be guided by a cognizance of all possible repercussions as well.