A Comprehensive Quadrilemma Index of Renewable Energy: The Latin American Case

Vitor C. Benfica () and António C. Marques ()
Additional contact information
Vitor C. Benfica: NECE-UBI, Universidade Beira Interior, Rua Marquês d’Ávila e Bolama, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal
António C. Marques: NECE-UBI, Universidade Beira Interior, Rua Marquês d’Ávila e Bolama, 6201-001 Covilhã, Portugal

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 15, 1-21

Abstract: This study developed an Energy Quadrilemma Index (EQI) for Latin American countries, analyzing data from six countries from 2014 to 2020. Using the Principal Component Analysis method, this work reduced the dimensionality of 20 indicators grouped into four dimensions: energy security, energy equity, sustainable development, and a new social context axis. The results reveal significant disparities among the countries in the study. For example, Uruguay shows robust indicators, Paraguay exhibits low utilization of the energy it produces, and Chile displays the poorest results in the sustainable development axis. Many countries’ widespread dependence on hydroelectricity makes them vulnerable to water crises. The results show that social, economic, and structural inequalities represent the main barriers to the energy transition, often marginalizing low-income populations. Ensuring a fair and inclusive transition requires implementing targeted policies and solutions adapted to each country’s specific context. Although Costa Rica leads in performance, it faces significant challenges in the field of sustainability. In contrast, Honduras has made some progress with sustainable development but still demonstrates weaknesses in other areas. These results highlight that standardized solutions can exacerbate regional inequalities, demanding approaches more tailored to local needs. This work’s novelty lies in the use of the social context dimension as a feature to assess energy poverty in selected countries.

Keywords: renewable energy; development index; energy transition; PCA; Latin America (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/15/3912/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/15/3912/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:15:p:3912-:d:1707520

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().