Search

• Decoupling of GDP from all energy sources under multiple principles are examined. • World economy achieved weak energy decoupling in most years during 2000–2011. • World economy coupled with coal use and tended to couple with cleaner energy use. • None of studied economies achieved long-term GDP-embodied energy decoupling. • Decoupling delusions occurred when only considering direct and total energy use. Decoupling indicators are widely used to understand links between economic growth and energy use. However, traditional decoupling analyses mostly focus on domestic energy consumption (i.e., the production-based principle) and neglect off-site energy use across global supply chains to satisfy an economy's final consumption (i.e., the consumption-based principle). Moreover, analyses for total primary energy conceal an economy's preference for different energy sources. Therefore, this paper evaluates decoupling states of GDP from all types of primary energy use under consumption-based principle, for world economy and eight typical economies during 2000–2011. Regarding total primary energy, world economy witnessed weak decoupling in most years, and most economies studied (e.g., USA, Japan and China) achieved decoupling initially but performed negative decoupling finally. For EU, USA, Japan, Russia and India, production-based decoupling performances were generally better than consumption-based ones. Decoupling phenomena detected under production-based principle even became coupling or negative decoupling under consumption-based principle in some cases. As for each energy source, world economy decoupled from oil use, but still coupled with coal use, and gradually showed a trend to couple with natural gas and renewables use. Different energy sources showed distinct decoupling degrees from GDP, affected by individual embodied energy requirement structure. This paper uncovers potential energy decoupling delusions to deepen the understanding of relationships between energy use and economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to advance a model able to explain the synchronization tendency in energy consumption, under the impact of international technology transfers. The key argument is related to the differences in energy consumption efficiency of local and foreign technologies. One direct testable consequence of the model is that there might be a certain correlation between the energy consumption between countries and/or economic areas where a free movement of capital goods and technologies takes place. Hence, it is further tested, in the framework of a multivariate spectrum analysis, the case of energy consumption synchronization between Europe and, respectively, United States and Japan for a time span between 1981 and 2011 based on the data provided by U.S. Energy Information Administration. There are evidences of a leading behavior of energy consumption in United States and Japan in respect to Europe as well as of short-run phase delays of 2 up to 5 months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Nuclear energy has been experiencing a revival in many countries, since it is considered to be a possible substitute for fossil fuels for electricity generation. This calls for a focused analysis, in order to evaluate whether conditions exist for its wide employment. While typical aspects against this option have to do with waste management, security of power plants and related health concerns, other issues less frequently considered by politics, mass‐media, and public opinion seem particularly crucial to understand if we are really going to face a nuclear energy renaissance. In particular, nuclear energy is well known to depend on parallel dynamics of uranium extraction and reactor startup. In this paper we apply an innovation diffusion framework to model co-evolutionary processes of uranium extraction, reactor startup and nuclear energy consumption at a world level. We also perform an analysis of nuclear consumption dynamics in France, Japan, and the USA, which are the three countries that are mostly invested in it. The results obtained by analyzing all of these processes do not seem to support the idea of a new era for nuclear energy. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This paper presents a societal level exergy analysis approach developed to analyse transitions in the way that energy is supplied and contributes to economic growth in the UK, the US, Austria and Japan, throughout the last century. We assess changes in exergy and useful work consumption, energy efficiency and related GDP intensity measures of each economy. The novel data provided elucidate certain characteristics of divergence and commonality in the energy transitions studied. The results indicate that in each country the processes of industrialization, urbanisation and electrification are characterised by a marked increase in exergy and useful work supplies and per capita intensities. There is a common and continuous decrease in the exergy intensity of GDP. Moreover for each country studied the trend of increasing useful work intensity of GDP reversed in the early 1970s coincident with the first oil crisis. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]