Research on New and Traditional Energy Sources in OECD Countries

To mitigate the problems associated with climate change, the low-carbon economy concept is now being championed around the world in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure sustainable economic growth. Therefore, to reduce the dependence on traditional energy sources, the Organization...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2019-03, Vol.16 (7), p.1122
Main Authors: Li, Ying, Chiu, Yung-Ho, Lin, Tai-Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Alternative energy sources
Carbon dioxide
Climate change
Coal-fired power plants
Data envelopment analysis
Energy sources
Fuel mixtures
Indicators
Nitrogen dioxide
Nuclear electric power generation
Nuclear fuels
Pollution indicators
Power plants
Renewable resources
Sulfur dioxide
Sustainable development
Transportation systems
Water pollution
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Summary:To mitigate the problems associated with climate change, the low-carbon economy concept is now being championed around the world in an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and ensure sustainable economic growth. Therefore, to reduce the dependence on traditional energy sources, the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has been actively promoting the use of renewable energy. Past research has tended to neglect the influence of other pollutants such as fine particulate matter (PM ) and sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and have mainly been based on static analyses. To make up for these research gaps, this study examined OECD country data from 2010⁻2014, with labor, fixed assets, new energy, and traditional energy as the inputs, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP), carbon dioxide (CO₂), and PM as the outputs, from which it was found: (1) the overall efficiency of the individual countries varied significantly, with nine countries being found to have efficiencies of 1 for all five years, but many others having efficiencies below 0.2; (2) in countries where there was a need for improvements in traditional energy (which here refers to coal, petroleum and other fossil energy sources), there was also a significant need for improvement in new energy sources (which here refers to clean energy which will produce pollutant emissions and can be directly used for production and life, including resources like nuclear energy and "renewable energy"); (3) countries with poor traditional energy and new energy efficiencies also had poor CO₂ and PM efficiencies; (4) many OECD countries have made progress towards sustainable new energy developments.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph16071122