The impact of education on the Energy Trilemma Index: A sustainable innovativeness perspective for resilient energy systems

Abstract

This study investigates the association between the Energy Trilemma Index (ETI) (which measures secure, affordable, and sustainable energy) and a country's level of education from a sustainable innovativeness perspective. We analyze if school life expectancy (SLE) and the students' predispositions towards STEM degrees (science, technology, engineering or mathematics) can stimulate the creation of sustainable and resilient energy systems. We perform a regression analysis based on data from 118 countries, and we employ both an ordinary least squares (OLS) regression and a robust-to-outliers MM-estimator. The statistical investigation reveals that the higher the school life expectancy, the higher the ETI. By contrast, we find no significant association between the ETI and the percentage of STEM graduates. So what matters in energy sustainability is the number of persons who decide to continue tertiary studies rather than their attitudes towards studying scientific subjects. This research paper contributes to the literature on renewable energy, circular economy (CE), sustainable innovation, and knowledge management by demonstrating how education can aid in implementing energy systems that adhere to the triple bottom-line approach (society, economy, and environment). Thus, sustainable and resilient energy systems can be spurred by not only environmental and economic variables but also social ones. Therefore, the traditional approach of the CE for achieving sustainable development should be substituted by alternative CE approaches that consider social variables. From the managerial standpoint, a high SLE can foster resilient energy systems through the creation of ad hoc policies, the birth of new companies connected to the renewable energy sector, and new organizational forms of energy management handled directly by citizens.