Identifying the factors that drive renewable energy consumption in the MENA region

Authors : Sadık Aden DIRIR

Pages : 170-185

Doi:10.58308/bemarej.1230694

View : 64 | Download : 61

Publication Date : 2023-07-31

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :The present study aims to identify the factors that drive renewable energy consumption in the MENA region. For this aim, the study employed panel data that consist of seven selected countries namely Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Iraq, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia from 2000 to 2021. The current study performed a Panel ARDL and causality test to determine the long-run effect of the variables and the direction of these effects. With that in mind, the study unveiled that energy importation and national income have a detrimental impact on renewable energy consumption while indicators such as inflation, government expenditure, economic growth, and industrial sector performance uncovered to rise the renewable energy consumption in MENA countries. Interestingly, the trade coefficient revealed no remarkable impact on the dependent variable. The results will offer insights to the MENA nations and the countries struggling to promote renewable energy consumption by identifying the factors that need to be prompted in order to increase the consumption of renewable energy and dissociate from non-renewable energy without compromising to achieve sustainable economic development. The paper also contributes to the literature by establishing a link between macroeconomic and microeconomic factors on energy consumption.
Keywords : Yenilenebilir enerji, Enerji tüketimi, Enerji çıkışı, Gelir, Ekonomik faktörler, MENA