Where the city lights shine? Measuring the effect of sprawl on electricity consumption in Spain

Alfredo Cartone, Alberto Díaz-Dapena, Raquel Langarita and Fernando Rubiera-Morollón
Authors registered in the RePEc Author Service: Fernando Rubiera Morollón

Land Use Policy, 2021, vol. 105, issue C

Abstract: Urban sprawl is a phenomenon that is generally growing across all continents. As a result, modern city structures need larger areas for similar populations. Few studies have evaluated the effects of sprawl on an important aspect in terms of sustainable development: energy consumption. The aim of this paper is to analyse whether urban sprawl has a significant effect on electricity consumption in Spanish municipalities. The increase in sprawl in Spanish cities is heterogeneous, and the growth of household income during recent decades has allowed households to move to scattered residential areas. This situation makes this country especially interesting as a case study to evaluate the impacts of urban sprawl. In this paper, by disaggregating the electricity consumption of households at the local level using entropy, we measure the effect of sprawl to evaluate whether there is an effect on household energy consumption. The joint consideration of disaggregated data and spatial heterogeneity allows us to assess the effect that sprawl has for certain urban configurations on electricity consumption, which points to the need for policies that involve national, regional and local land use policies.

Keywords: Electricity; Entropy econometrics; Disaggregation; Urban sprawl; Urban sustainability; Spatial heterogeneity (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:lauspo:v:105:y:2021:i:c:s0264837721001484

DOI: 10.1016/j.landusepol.2021.105425

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