The energy intensity convergence in the transport sector

Unlike other sectors, energy consumption of the transport is increasing in most EU countries. The article investigates the energy intensity of the transportation sector in the countries of the European Union during the period 1994-2009. The estimates are carried out both for one-year and five-year periods for EU-27, EU-15 and EU-12 countries. The estimated half-life of the conditional beta-convergence is close to 4 years in all groups. However, there is a large difference in the implied speed of convergence between the conditional and unconditional estimates in the EU-15 group, indicating the distinct convergence patterns the individual EU-15 countries. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V.