Arvanitopoulos, Theodoros;
(2021)
The environmental and socioeconomic impact of energy demand and supply in the UK industry.
Doctoral thesis (Ph.D), UCL (University College London).
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Abstract
The UK government has identified Clean Growth as one of the four grand challenges for the UK industry, with goal to improve industrial energy efficiency by at least 20% by 2030. This thesis tackles three aspects of the challenges faced by the industrial sector and the impacts of delivering Clean Growth. I develop a new econometric approach based on linear state space modelling to explore the role of economic growth and energy price on historical trend in energy efficiency. Findings indicate that price signal has been an important driver of energy efficiency to the extent that it has largely offset the surge in consumption induced by economic growth. The remaining component of energy efficiency is imputable to exogenous processes, not directly induced by energy prices. Although increasing energy efficiency can stimulate Clean Growth by reducing emissions, it is equally important to identify the determinants directly responsible for reducing emissions. I employ a panel time series methodology that accounts for cross sectional dependence to assess the long-term relationship between industrial processes and emissions. Findings indicate emissions can be reliably reduced by decreasing energy consumption, encouraging fuel substitution and market competition to counteract the increase in emissions related to higher capital investment. I observe considerable similarities in the relationship between market concentration on one side and emissions and innovation on the other. The transition to renewables posits the issue of net job creation as outdated carbon intensive technologies become obsolete leading to job losses. I develop an econometric framework, based on Vector Error Correction model, that estimates the employment impact for the power sector and finds that a 1 GWh increase in annual renewable electricity results in 3.5 jobs in the long-term. By applying results to decarbonisation scenarios, I find renewable technologies can lead to the creation of on average 55,000 jobs by 2030.
| Type: | Thesis (Doctoral) |
|---|---|
| Qualification: | Ph.D |
| Title: | The environmental and socioeconomic impact of energy demand and supply in the UK industry |
| Event: | UCL (University College London) |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | Copyright © The Author 2021. Original content in this thesis is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Any third-party copyright material present remains the property of its respective owner(s) and is licensed under its existing terms. Access may initially be restricted at the author’s request. |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of the Built Environment > Bartlett School Env, Energy and Resources |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10136608 |
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