A novel approach for analyzing the effectiveness of the R&D capital for resource conservation: Comparative study on Germany and UK electricity sectors

Hossein Khajehpour, Iman Miremadi, Yadollah Saboohi and George Tsatsaronis

Energy Policy, 2020, vol. 147, issue C

Abstract: Limited access to energy resources and increasing demand for mitigation of the environmental impacts have necessitated higher production efficiencies. Therefore, the promotion of R&D activities has been one of the main parts of national energy policies. In this research work, two methods are used for assessing the effectiveness of the R&D capital on resource conservation. First, by developing the resource-included knowledge production function of the energy sector and second, through direct assessment of the functionality of resource productivity from R&D capital. Based on official data provided by national statistical centers, a comparative analysis has been conducted to examine the effectiveness of R&D in the electricity generation sectors in the United Kingdom and Germany. In these analyses, non-renewable exergy cost is used as an index of resource depletion and environmental burden. It is shown that, due to non-economic energy transition policies, the inclusion of the R&D investment does not result in statistically meaningful elasticity of production for the R&D capital. However, according to the second method, it is shown that the R&D investment in the United Kingdom has been more effective in resource conservation than in Germany. Possible reasons for such differences are discussed and recommendations for further investigations are presented.

Keywords: Energy; Nonrenewable exergy cost; R&D; Environment; Resource conservation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enepol:v:147:y:2020:i:c:s0301421520305139

DOI: 10.1016/j.enpol.2020.111792

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