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Assessing the energy trilemma through the diversity of the energy mix: the case of India

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to propose a new procedure for analysing the problem of the energy trilemma at country level. The three main issues for energy governance are energy security (ESI), climate change (EI) and energy poverty (EDI). Implementing policies to address them all simultaneously poses a major challenge for policymakers. This paper examines the impact of the India's diversity energy mix (DI) on the energy trilemma from 1990 to 2014. The quantitative study employs regression analysis individually (equation by equation) and simultaneously (all variables are considered jointly) using the Ordinary Least Square method and the Feasible Generalised Least Square method, respectively. The results confirm a strong link between all variables and prove that diversity is statistically significant for all variables. The results of the cross-effect analysis reveal interesting changes in the effects of DI compared to the individual analysis. When ESI and EI are considered the dependent variable, the sign of the DI change and its degree of significance decreases. The analysis also shows a positive effect of DI on EI, the significance of EI on ESI and a positive relationship between EI and EDI. The findings suggest that increasing the diversity of the energy mix is not always the best decision. Data are taken from the databases of the International Energy Agency, Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research and World Bank (DataBank).

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Abbreviations

APERC:

Asian Pacific Energy Research Centre

CI:

Composite indices

CO2 :

Carbon dioxide

DI:

Diversity index

EDGAR:

Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research

EDI:

Energy development index

EI:

Emission index

EII:

Emission intensity indicator

EJM:

Energy justice metric

EPI:

Energy poverty index

ESI:

Energy security index

GDP:

Gross domestic product

GHG:

Greenhouse gases

HHI:

Hirschman–Herfindahl index

IEA:

International Energy Agency

IPPC:

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

LIHC:

Low income high costs

MEPI:

Multi-dimensional energy poverty index

MIS:

Minimum income standard

NEID:

Net energy import dependency

PED:

Primary energy demand

PES:

Primary energy sources

StI:

Stirling diversity index

SWI:

Shannon–Wiener index

TPES:

Total primary energy sources

U.S. EIA:

U.S. Energy International Agency

WB:

World Bank

WEC:

World Energy Council

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Funding

The authors acknowledge research funding received from UPV/EHU Econometrics Research Group (Basque Government Grant IT-1359-19) and Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (project PID2019-105986 GB-C22).

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Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

Bd-R: conceptualization, methodology, investigation, resources, data curation, writing—original draft, writing—review and editing, visualisation. AF-S: conceptualization, methodology, formal analysis, writing—review and editing, supervision, project administration. IMde A: conceptualization, resources, writing—review and editing.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Belén del-Río.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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del-Río, B., Fernández-Sainz, A. & Martinez de Alegria, I. Assessing the energy trilemma through the diversity of the energy mix: the case of India. SN Bus Econ 2, 122 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-022-00300-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43546-022-00300-8

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