Tamanian School of Business and Economics, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Australia.
Department of Computing and Informatics, Bournemouth University, Poole, UK.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2021 Apr;28(15):19473-19484. doi: 10.1007/s11356-020-12002-5. Epub 2021 Jan 4.
The continuous use of fossil fuels to meet the energy demands of the industrialized nations has led to environmental degradation. As such, there has been a call for research, exploration, and the usage of alternative energy which is believed to improve the depleting quality of the environment. This study investigates the relationship between energy efficiency, green energy investment, and energy innovation in a panel of nine highly industrialized countries, namely Canada, Japan, France, Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, the USA, and the UK. Relying on the environmental Kuznets' hypothesis (EKC), we employ the quantile-on-quantile regression approach to the data obtained between 1980 and 2018. The empirical estimates validate the EKC hypothesis in most of these industrialized nations considered. The findings also reveal that the continuous use of non-renewable energy consumption escalates emissions, while the use of renewable energy reduces the level of emissions "in" the environment. Therefore, energy efficiency leads to an increase in emissions in the first 3 quantiles and reduces emissions in the remaining quantiles. Also, energy innovation leads to a high amount of emissions. Finally, the study calls for increased investments in renewable energy as well as energy efficiency to ensure continuous improvement in the quality of the environment.
为了满足工业化国家的能源需求，化石燃料的持续使用导致了环境恶化。因此，人们呼吁研究、探索和使用替代能源，以改善环境质量的下降。本研究调查了能源效率、绿色能源投资和能源创新之间的关系，使用了 1980 年至 2018 年期间九个高度工业化国家（加拿大、日本、法国、西班牙、德国、瑞士、意大利、美国和英国）的数据。基于环境库兹涅茨假说（EKC），我们采用分位数分位数回归方法进行实证分析。实证结果在大多数被考虑的工业化国家中验证了 EKC 假说。研究结果还表明，不可再生能源消耗的持续使用会加剧排放，而可再生能源的使用则会减少环境中的排放水平。因此，能源效率在前 3 个分位数中导致排放量增加，而在后几个分位数中则减少排放量。此外，能源创新会导致大量排放。最后，该研究呼吁增加对可再生能源和能源效率的投资，以确保环境质量的持续改善。
