Abstract
This study examines the potential drivers of renewable energy consumption for 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries during 2005–2014. I use the sys-GMM method to deal with the presence of endogeneity, countryspecific components and serial correlation within observations. Results confirm the dynamic behaviour of green energy consumption. Moreover, GDP per capita and CO2 emissions per capita are the determinants of this clean energy source. The positive effect of per capita GDP implies that a non-depleting alternative source has been used to satisfy an increasing energy demand, which was experienced due to the acceleration of economic growth in the region. On the other hand, the negative effect of per capita CO2 emissions reflects the weight that fossil fuels have in the energy mix. Because of some of the analysed countries’ oil-producer nature, oil prices rise is not enough for a switch response.
Highlights
Before 1973–1974, energy consumption rose at increasing rates in industrialised countries
Energy economics’ research was guided toward that issue until in the last few decades, with the evidence of the hole in the ozone layer, climate change, global warming and the contribution of human activities in the generation of greenhouse gases (GHG), scholars developed an interest in renewable energy topics
Since dynamic panel models expunge the bias generated from the association between the lagged-dependent variable and the error and deals with regressors which are not strictly exogenous, some authors implemented them recently to examine the determinants of renewable energy consumption
Summary
Before 1973–1974, energy consumption rose at increasing rates in industrialised countries After that, this factor’s consumption growth evolved into moderate levels in virtue of the shock in real oil prices and the gradual decrease of global capitalist economies’ economic growth rate. This factor’s consumption growth evolved into moderate levels in virtue of the shock in real oil prices and the gradual decrease of global capitalist economies’ economic growth rate This phenomenon developed an interest in academia to start studying energy effects. Other scholars manifest that energy substitutes capital in the long-run (Griffin & Gregory, 1976). These debatable results gave foundation about the study of energy’s performance in the economy. Energy economics’ research was guided toward that issue until in the last few decades, with the evidence of the hole in the ozone layer, climate change, global warming and the contribution of human activities in the generation of greenhouse gases (GHG), scholars developed an interest in renewable energy topics
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