Search

Energy security, energy equity, and energy greening are three crucial challenges (i.e., energy trilemma, ET) of a nation's energy system while achieving economic growth with the reduction of carbon emissions. Investigating the impact of ET on green total-factor productivity (GTFP) helps provide essential implications for facilitating collaborative low-carbon economy and sustainable energy development. Using the data of 142 economies spanning 2008–2018, the country-level GTFP is evaluated based on a super-efficiency Epsilon-Based Measure (EBM) model with window analysis. Then, this study analyzes how ET influences GTFP, and further examines the heterogeneous effect of ET through the dynamic panel threshold model. The results specify that ET has a positive effect on GTFP, which is robust to various econometric techniques, model specifications, alternative measurement of GTFP, carbon emission intensity as a surrogate indicator for GTFP, and covariates choices. Notably, each branch of ET is also positively related to GTFP. Further threshold effects analysis discloses the differentiated impact of ET on GTFP. When the ET exceeds its threshold, the positive impact of ET on GTFP becomes more effective. Only when GDP per capita and industrial structure are within their higher intervals will ET has a significant and larger positive effect on GTFP. • The impact of energy trilemma on green total-factor productivity is investigated. • Spatial-temporal dynamics of green total-factor productivity are studied globally. • Energy trilemma has a positive impact on green total-factor productivity. • Separate energy trilemma sub-indicators all positively influence GTFP. • The ET-GTFP nexus is contingent on ET, industrial structure, and GDP per capita. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world has witnessed a surge in renewable power installed capacity in recent years, and there is an emerging trend of renewable penetration in electricity production. However, there is a lack of quantitative comparative study on disaggregated renewable power sources concerning their generation efficiency performance, regional heterogeneity, development potential, and influencing mechanism in the existing literature. In the case of China's 30 provinces, this paper evaluates the hydropower, solar power, and wind power generation efficiency by stochastic frontier analysis method, and then reveals the distribution characteristics and deployment potential of different renewable sources. Furthermore, from the perspective of spatial heterogeneity, geographical detector model is utilized to study the influence mechanism of the generation efficiency of different renewable sources. The main results are as follows. Firstly, production inefficiency prevails in hydropower, solar power, and wind power generation industries. The installed capacity, utilized hours, and auxiliary power consumption have positive impacts on the three renewable energy sources. Every 1% increase in auxiliary power consumption leads to 0.16% increase in solar power generation, which is quite larger than the increase in hydropower and wind power. Secondly, on average, hydropower has the highest level of generation efficiency, followed by wind power and solar power. Kernel density curves indicate the generation efficiency of hydropower, solar power, and wind power displays distinct aggregation characteristics. Different energy types show significant regional differences in deployment potential. Thirdly, annual precipitation accounts for 76% of the spatial heterogeneity in hydropower generation efficiency, followed by hydropower technology innovation and power structure. As for solar power generation efficiency, the most important influencing factors are electricity investment and economic development. By contrast, wind power generation efficiency is primarily affected by power structure, electricity investment, and urbanization. Additionally, there exist distinct synergistic effects among different variables. These results provide insightful policy support for the improvement of renewable power generation efficiency. The study can be extended to the global scale using country-level data. • Stochastic frontier analysis is performed to study renewable generation efficiency. • Production inefficiency prevails in three renewable power generation industries. • Hydropower generation efficiency is higher than wind power and solar power in China. • Different energy types show significant regional differences in deployment potential. • The driving factors of generation efficiency are examined by geographical detector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the background of climate change, an important role has been identified for power industry in low-carbon transition, it is essential to uncover the evolution of thermal power generation and its nexus with economic growth. In the case of the European Union (EU) 25 countries spanning 1997–2017, we examine the convergence process of thermal electricity generation and its influencing factors through the combined econometric and decomposition analysis, and then investigate the decoupling relationship between economic growth and thermal electricity generation. The results specify that: (1) Both absolute and conditional β-convergence in the share of thermal electricity generation (STEG) are demonstrated across the EU countries, and there exists an inverted-U shaped relationship between economic growth and STEG. (2) LMDI decomposition shows economic growth and electricity security contribute to increasing thermal electricity generation in most EU countries, while the substitution effect, electricity intensity and technological structure negatively influence thermal electricity generation. (3) The number of EU countries in strong decoupling rises from 3 during 1997–2007 to 18 during 2007–2017. (4) Most EU countries have made efforts to promote the decoupling of thermal electricity generation except France and Portugal. Seeking alternative electricity sources instead of electricity import is the most effective decoupling effort. • The convergence in STEG across EU countries is examined by GMM methods. • Thermal electricity generation is decomposed by index decomposition analysis. • EKC hypothesis is verified for economic growth and STEG. • The decoupling effect of thermal electricity generation is explored. • Alternative electricity development instead of electricity import should be enhanced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]