Renewable energy consumption in economic sectors in the EU-27. The impact on economics, environment and conventional energy sources. A 20-year perspective

Abstract

The main reason for the ongoing process of energy transition in the global economy is the need to protect the environment, especially the climate. Increased public awareness about the destruction of the Earth's ecosystem and technological development have resulted in increased importance of renewable energy sources, which are increasingly replacing conventional sources. In addition to the environmental aspect, renewable energy also gives a chance for greater energy independence and the ability to produce energy by countries without conventional energy resources. These factors cause individual countries and their groups to take more and more decisive actions to develop renewable energy. Particularly ambitious plans in this area are presented by the European Union, which is the undisputed leader in introducing pro-environmental legislation. Therefore, the following article presents the results of research on the degree of renewable energy use in selected sectors of the economy and households in the European Union countries between 2000 and 2019. The impact of the use of renewable energy sources based energy on economic indicators and on the consumption of energy from conventional sources was also determined. Due to the different levels of economic development and wealth of countries, the study also refers to the groups of “old” and “new” European Union countries. The study showed the concentration and dynamics of change in the consumption of renewable energy in the studied sector and households for individual countries and their groups. The Kohonen artificial neural networks were used to analyze similarities between the European Union countries in terms of the use of energy from renewable energy sources in the sectors studied. In addition, correlations were established between economic and environmental parameters for the whole economy, industry and agriculture/forestry/fishing sectors and the consumption of energy from renewable energy sources, as well as the impact of this energy consumption on the consumption of conventional energy. The results obtained showed a significant increase in the consumption of energy from renewable energy sources in the European Union countries in the studied period, as well as significant differences in the use of this energy among the studied countries, their groups and sectors. Also, it was found that renewable energy sources based energy consumption has a positive impact on economic growth, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and the reduction of conventional energy consumption in practically all European Union countries. The results obtained indicate that this impact is greater in the “old” than in the “new” European Union countries.