Energy Consumption, Energy Distribution, and Clean Energy Use Together Affect Life Expectancy

Lisbeth Weitensfelder, Hanns Moshammer () and Oral Ataniyazova
Additional contact information
Lisbeth Weitensfelder: Center for Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Hanns Moshammer: Center for Public Health, Department of Environmental Health, Medical University of Vienna, 1090 Vienna, Austria
Oral Ataniyazova: Karakalpakstan Medical Institute, Nukus 230100, Uzbekistan

Sustainability, 2024, vol. 16, issue 2, 1-11

Abstract: Background: Energy use per capita is a measure of the wealth of a population. A minimum of wealth or energy is certainly needed to achieve good living standards and a healthy life. Life expectancy at birth might be used as an indicator of overall health and well-being. We hypothesized that the effect of energy use on life expectancy does reach a limit, above which further energy use does not further increase life expectancy. Methods: We used global World Bank data for the years between 1972 and 2014 on national energy use and life expectancy and applied non-linear models searching for a threshold. We also controlled for distribution inequalities. Results: There is a clear upper threshold for the effects of energy use, but this threshold did not remain completely constant over the years. Conclusions: While a certain level of wealth and energy use is necessary for health and well-being, there is a certain threshold beyond which additional energy consumption has no beneficial effects. A more even distribution of wealth and energy within a population and the use of cleaner energy sources might, above a certain level, be more important than the average use of energy.

Keywords: global world bank data; energy use; life expectancy; non-linear models; distribution of wealth; GINI coefficient (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/678/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/2/678/ (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:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:2:p:678-:d:1317896

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

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