Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Faculty of Economics, Allameh Tabatabai University

2 Student

Abstract

Energy is a fundamental input in production, and its availability and use are essential for the social, economic, and technological advancement of a nation. Energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing along with rising production, primarily sourced from non-renewable resources. The increase in production and economic development has led to higher greenhouse gas emissions, resulting in climate change, which poses a new challenge for countries. Energy efficiency is the most beneficial way to reduce greenhouse gases and control energy supply. In this regard, one of the responsibilities of governments is to find tools to minimize the national economy's energy efficiency gap by increasing energy efficiency within the economy.

For this purpose, in this study, we used the Shephard energy distance function to define the energy efficiency index and the stochastic frontier analysis technique to estimate the energy efficiency gap in selected oil and gas producing countries from 1990 to 2022. We examined some factors influencing the energy efficiency gap and observed that the energy efficiency gap increased from 6% to 29% during the years under review. Additionally, foreign direct investment and total factor productivity have a negative impact, while urbanization has a positive impact on the energy efficiency gap.

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