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In the past decades, renewable energy consumption has grown considerably because of environmental degradation caused by non-renewable energy consumption. This research aims to find the causal link between renewable and non-renewable energy consumption, human capital, and non-renewable energy price for the 53 most renewable energy-consuming countries worldwide (hydroelectric) during the period 1990–2017. We use data collected from the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/data-catalog/world-development-indicators, 2018) and Statistical Review of World Energy (https://www.bp.com/, 2018). We test simultaneously two types of regressions in order to measure the degree of elasticity of the two types of energy by using econometric techniques for panel data. The results of the GLS models indicate that human capital has a stronger significant effect on renewable energy consumption at the global level, in the middle high-income countries and low-middle income countries, compared with non-renewable energy consumption. Besides, at the global level, there is a positive and statistically significant relationship between the non-renewable energy price and the two types of energy consumption. There is a long-run consumption of both types of energy. On the other hand, the one-way relationship between human capital and non-renewable energy price and renewable energy consumption is stronger than the relationship with non-renewable energy consumption. The policy implications derived from this study should be designed to promote human capital development in order to promote renewable energy consumption and increase the investment in renewable energy sources to guarantee their access to lower prices that reduce non-renewable energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, various policies have been implemented to reduce energy consumption, as well as a considerable increase in research that analyzes the determinants of energy consumption, both with a standard feature, mitigating environmental degradation. However, few studies investigate the economic and spatial determinants of energy consumption in the European Union (EU). Therefore, to cover the knowledge gap, based on the review of the existing literature, this document is designed to analyze the determinants and energy policy in energy consumption in the EU. For this reason, the objective of this research is to analyze the effect of human capital, the price of oil, and Kyoto Protocol policy on energy consumption. In addition, the effect of contiguity and spatial concentration on energy consumption is studied for 34 European countries, of which 26 belong to the EU, for the period 2000–2016. For this, data collected from the World Bank (2017) and the World Energy Statistical Review (2017) were used. The work methodology is based on the application of econometric techniques for panel data, and spatial econometrics, based on the application of a Spatial Durbin Model (SDM), through which the existence of "spillovers" was determined in the implementation of the energy policy. The results of the estimates show a negative effect of the price of oil and human capital concerning energy consumption, and the variable "Policy" reflects a reduction in the energy consumption of the EU countries in the period analyzed. Additionally, the space panel confirms that the behavior of a country's energy consumption depends on its past values and the level of consumption presented by its neighbors, corroborating the importance of territorial contiguity in the success of environmental policy in the case of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]