The effect of renewable energy consumption on economic growth: Evidence from top 38 countries

This research aims to investigate the effects of renewable energy consumption on the economic growth of major renewable energy consuming countries in the world. Using the Renewable Energy Country Attractiveness Index developed by the Ernst & Young Global Limited, we choose 38 top renewable energy consuming countries to explain the growth process between 1991 and 2012. With panel estimation techniques, our findings establish cross-sectional dependence and heterogeneity across the countries. We confirm the evidence of long-run dynamics between economic growth, and traditional and energy-related inputs. Findings from long-run output elasticities indicate that renewable energy consumption has a significant positive impact on the economic output for 57% of our selected countries. For robustness, we also carried out time-series analyses of long-run output elasticities. Our findings suggest that governments, energy planners, international cooperation agencies and associated bodies must act together in increasing renewable energy investment for low carbon growth in most of these economies. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.