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This paper aims to scrutinize the effects of; productivity, capital investment, human capital, employment and energy intensity; on economic growth in Morocco under the Energy-augmented Cobb Douglas production function (CDPF) framework, using extended data from 1965 to 2022. The ADF unit root test confirmed the existence of cointegration among variables, then, the ARDL BTA/ECM model proved the presence of long-term relationship within, in which the explanatory variables progress all together positively and proportionally to generate economic growth, just as stipulate the standard CDPF. The outputs reliability was validated by FMOLS, DOLS, and CCR tests. Results implies that an additional unit in GDP corresponds, in terms of units to, 1.87 in productivity level, 0.12 in capital investment, 4.19 in of human capital, 0.98 in labor force and 2.52 in energy intensity, that Moroccan economy is human capital intensive unlike when it comes to physical capital. In the light of this findings, we think that Morocco should accelerate its industrial transition, proceed to a large modernization and mechanisation of its agriculture in order to inspire more productivity to its entire economy, keep acting in the sense of more structural reforms to improve the business environment, share out the public spending equitably following two dimensions, physical by upgrading local infrastructure to attract more investments, human by promoting human capital through education and social protection.

In its 2023 Climate Doctrine, Russia officially committed to carbon neutrality before 2060. However, on the roadmap fork to climate neutrality Russia’s Low Carbon Strategy chose the 2F (Forest First) pathway with the dominance of the natural solutions in the LULUCF sector and with a moderate decline or even growth (industry and agriculture) in other sectors. This paper focuses on a discussion of the roadmap to carbon neutrality. The roadmapping approach relies on a system of interconnected models for setting the scale of low carbon technologies and practices deployment. The paper concludes that excessive reliance on the 2F pathway is unrealistic, and only the Forest Last family of scenarios, which focuses on substantial reduction of GHG emissions across all sectors, is able to bring Russia to carbon neutrality in 2060. The paper also presents indicators to assess emission reductions by major sectors and discusses the need to reinforce the five pillars to support this pathway: technologies; regulations and programmes; incentives and financing; institutes; and human capital. These five pillars are required to effectively address three basic models of decisions-making (satisficing, optimization, and system transformation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the stationary property of electricity consumption for Hunan province in China over the period January 2013 to April 2023. Our analysis uses the panel stationarity tests, which take into account the factor structure and structural breaks. The results indicate supportive findings of non-stationarity in Hunan province. The results imply that external shocks yield a permanent effect for electricity consumption in Hunan province. These findings shows that governments should adopt policies to mitigate external shocks to electricity consumption in order to achieve electricity market stability and long-term sustainable development.

This study examines the impact of the growing elderly population and single-person households on residential electricity demand in China. Using a dynamic panel model, this study investigates a balanced panel dataset encompassing 30 provinces in China from 2006 to 2016. The results indicate that households in China show limited responsiveness to changes in electricity prices and household income in the short and long run. Regarding demographic transitions, the results reveal that the presence of working-age individuals, elderly individuals, and single-person households contributes to an increase in electricity demand. Furthermore, the results highlight the significance of higher education in reducing electricity demand, suggesting the need for educational programmes that promote energy-saving behaviour and environment-friendly attitudes. These findings offer valuable insights for policy makers and stakeholders aiming to develop effective strategies for managing residential electricity demand in light of changing demographics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Topology optimization of structures composed of truss-like members has been shown to produce results that are very close to the theoretical solution. However, solving complex optimization problems based on the traditional orthogonal truss-like material model remains a challenge. This article proposes a unified framework for solving topology optimization problems based on a non-orthogonal truss-like material model. The framework first establishes a new non-orthogonal truss-like material model that considers the stiffness singularity problem. Several strategies for dynamically changing shear stiffness are studied comparatively. Then, a globally convergent moving asymptote method is employed in three numerical examples, including minimum compliance problems under single and multiple load cases, as well as a stress-constrained problem for an L-shaped design domain. Finally, optimal truss-like structures are obtained with the help of a simple post-processing method. Numerical examples demonstrate that the optimization results for the multiple load cases are better than those obtained using traditional methods for minimum compliance problems. The framework can efficiently solve different types of optimization problems in a unified form, which confirms the effectiveness and advantages of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study emphasizes the acceleration of clean energy (CE) adoption through financial inclusion (FI), particularly in the context of the rapid expansion of the BRICS economic cooperation alliance and its contribution to addressing environmental challenges. Specifically, this research assesses the impact of FI on the upward mobility of clean energy transition using annual panel data from 2004 to 2022. Utilizing a comprehensive set of pre-estimation techniques, this study employs the newly established Panel non-linear Autoregressive Distributed Lag (P-NARDL) model for empirical analysis, supplemented by robust estimation methods. The findings reveal that various dimensions of FI, including financial accessibility, financial depth, financial efficiency, and financial stability, significantly influence the progression from nonrenewable energy sources to clean energy consumption. This study extends the examination to assess both the aggregate and disaggregated relationships among the variables. Using causality estimation, it identifies the presence of both bidirectional and unidirectional causality between the FI indices and CE. These findings offer practical policy implications for developing financial resources to accelerate the adoption of CE, thereby addressing the environmental challenges faced by the BRICS economies.

This research assesses the health consequences of indoor air pollution resulting from the use of polluting cooking energies in Benin, employing a nationally representative household dataset. Using the health production function approach, we calculated both direct costs (related to medical expenses) and indirect costs (linked to income loss) based on a structural model that accounts for averting behaviours and household heterogeneity. Our findings reveal that reliance on polluting cooking energies significantly increases the risk of illness, particularly respiratory infections and cardiovascular diseases. Notably, the economic costs associated with these dirty cooking energies outweigh the direct medical costs. These results underscore the urgency of promoting clean cooking alternatives in Benin. The estimated health damage can serve to raise awareness among households about the risks of using polluting cooking energies. Furthermore, the estimated costs can provide insights into households' willingness to invest in a transition from polluting to clean cooking energies, potentially informing targeted energy transition policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy production plays a major role in the Saudi Arabian economy, but energy production can lead to an increase in environmental pollution.

This paper investigates the relationship between per capita CO2 emission and the population age distribution in 17 Indian states from 1980 to 2008. Using STIRPAT (Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology) framework, this paper examines the impact of the age distribution of population, per capita gross domestic product, and the share of the manufacturing sector on per capita CO2 emissions by assembling a panel dataset from published data for this time period. Each state’s population is categorized into five age intervals to estimate the effect of the share of population falling in each age interval on per capita CO2 emission. Results show that states with a larger share of the population aged between 35 to 49 years emit more carbon than those with larger younger or older shares. This analysis is supplemented by an empirical exercise using National Sample Survey data which indicates that a greater share of the prime working-age population (35-49) is associated with a greater degree of fuel consumption expenditure which in turn reflects the higher energy demand leading to higher CO2 emission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green rooftops, also known as vegetated roofs, will play a critical role in enhancing the resilience of urban areas in the face of climate change and other contemporary environmental and social challenges. To ensure the optimal design and implementation of these green technologies, it is vital to understand the public’s preferences, values, and attitudes toward the government support for green rooftops. This study employs contingent valuation methods, specifically utilizing a payment card and a choice experiment, to investigate these topics that have received inadequate exploration within the current body of literature. Our findings indicate that 45% of the public is aware of green rooftops, and the most desired features on an extensive green rooftop, ranked by importance, are: flowers, grass, trees, and walking paths. The majority (79%) of the public supports a federally proposed legislation currently under review (the Public School Green Rooftop Program) and has a mean willingness to pay of approximately $176 per household as a one-time payment. Additionally, the results show that individuals place a higher value on green rooftops that incorporate solar energy technology compared to those without. Furthermore, there is a perceived, loss of value when access to a green rooftop is limited, as opposed to having open access.

The study analysed women’s contribution to agricultural activities in small, medium and large farm sizes and also examined the socio-economic factors that affect women’s participation in the agricultural sector.

China has been implementing energy efficiency and CO2 emission reduction schemes at the provincial level that have been embedded in the National Five Year Plans of the country. We set out to investigate the relationship between R&D expenditures and CO2 emissions in China at the province level in the context of the planned emissions reduction targets. We explore the possibility of the existence of a non-linear relationship between R&D expenditures and CO2 emissions with a non-parametric methodology, a fixed effect panel data quantile (FEQR) regression estimator applied to a panel of 30 provinces. We stratify the sample according to the five emissions reduction target tiers of the 12th Five-Year National Plan of China and we investigate the role of R&D expenditures in emissions reduction within each of the tiers. We find an inverse U relationship with different turning points for the three middle tiers and a U-shaped relationship for the tier under the most stringent environmental regulation. We find no effect in the tier with the least stringent emissions reduction targets. A further investigation shows that the above results are attributed to sectors with relatively low energy intensity and not to the sectors of heavy industry. The results allow us to draw broad conclusions about the effectiveness of investment in new technologies as a means of meeting the CO2 targets in China.

Risk premia are difficult to identify in nonstorable commodities such as electricity. In this article, we propose a modified Fama–French regression framework and show that when the spot prices do not follow a martingale—a common assumption in the electricity market—model specifications play an important role in detecting time-varying risk premia in the futures market. With this insight, we propose a multi-factor model that captures important dynamics in electricity prices and an estimation method based on particle Markov chain Monte Carlo to separate risk factors in energy prices. Using spot and futures data in the Germany/Austria electricity market, we demonstrate that our proposed model surpasses alternative models that ignore some of risk factors in forecasting spot prices and in detecting time-varying risk premia. Based on our proposed model, we separately identify risk premia carried by individual risk factors and document large variations in the premia of each factor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the predictive power of building energy performance certificates on home heat loss. Improving the insulative capacity of residential properties is a policy priority in many markets, with building energy performance certificates serving as a benchmark. We exploit a rich panel dataset of high-frequency thermostat readings, coupled with data detailing weather and building characteristics, to identify an ex-post metric of heat loss. Our results show a significant effect of building energy performance rating on indoor temperature, a proxy for home heat loss. However, we do not find evidence of a distinct gradient in performance between building energy rating categories, as suggested by ex-ante estimates of home heat loss. The finding highlights that directly linking policy targets to a particular energy performance certificate standard can lead to an outcome that deviates significantly from what is anticipated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, with the rapid development of the knowledge economy and science, countries have embraced technical innovation and have gradually increased investment in research and development (R&D). A vast literature indicates that the relationship between R&D and firm performance is highly complex. The evidence suggests that R&D positively influences firm performance, yet findings on the process by which this happens are mixed. Rigorous analyses are required on how R&D investments affect energy consumption. This study explores the impact of R&D investment on the performance and energy consumption of 476 firms in Ethiopia by employing a combination of fixed-effect, propensity score matching, and endogenous treatment effect estimation methods. The empirical results reveal that investment in R&D positively influences both innovation and long-term financial performance but negatively impacts short-term financial performance and energy consumption. The results also show that the impacts of R&D activities vary significantly across different categories of firms, confirming that heterogeneity may be an issue among the firms considered. The results also indicate that the availability of credit is a more important moderating factor in the relationship between R&D investment and firm performance than the legal system is. These results have important implications for firms with growing R&D operations, especially those in developing countries such as Ethiopia. Ethiopian firms should invest more in R&D activities, such as in fundamental and applied research, to improve performance and enhance competitiveness.

The global rise in energy consumption makes managing energy demands a priority. Here, the potential of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in controlling energy consumption is still debated. Within this context, the main objective of the current study is to measure the impact of ICT, its potential benefit, and environmental factors on household electricity demand in Taiwan. A panel of data from 20 cities in Taiwan was collected during the period 2004–2018. We adopted PMG estimation and applied the DH-causality test for analysis. The estimation results show that ICT, carbon emissions, and climate change will drive household electricity demand in Taiwan in the long term. However, ICT has a higher potential to reduce electricity demand in the short-term period. In addition, the results of the causality test reveal a two-way interrelationship between ICT and electricity demand. Our study also found that climate change indirectly affects the use of electricity through household appliances. We also presented several policy implications at the end of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the nature of the effects of electric power consumption on economic growth for 41 high-income countries. It introduces a heterodox growth model, which integrates economic capabilities and economic structure into the energy consumption–economic growth nexus. The study leverages on the dynamic pooled ordinary least squares, dynamic fixed effects, system-GMM, the panel autoregressive distributed lag, and the generalized quantile regression estimations as estimation techniques. Empirical findings suggest that electric power consumption, human capital, and technological progress are positively associated with a higher rate of economic growth. Moreover, the study revealed that an increase in the level of capabilities of an economy can promote new incentives for employed people to raise their skills, and thus increases economic progress. In that sense, it is worth important to argue that the changes in the income level of any country may be reflected by the changes in the level of consumption of electric power along with the changes in the level of capabilities of an economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]