Open AccessComparative Study on Energy Consumption in the Asian Landlocked Countries
Author(s) -
Kazuhiro Fukuyo,
Nobuo Hirohata
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
iop conference series. earth and environmental science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.179
H-Index - 26
eISSN - 1755-1307
pISSN - 1755-1315
DOI - 10.1088/1755-1315/294/1/012084
Subject(s) - landlocked country , per capita , electricity , consumption (sociology) , granger causality , agricultural economics , energy consumption , economics , developing country , economic growth , business , socioeconomics , geography , natural resource economics , development economics , population , engineering , econometrics , demography , social science , electrical engineering , sociology , political science , law
This paper focuses on the present and future of the residential energy consumption in the Asian landlocked countries: Laos (Lao PDR) and Nepal. Although Laos and Nepal are classified as the least developed countries (LDCs) and share many similarities in terms of geographical and socio-economic features, energy use, especially electricity use, is very different. In 2016, the residential electricity consumption (per capita per annum) of Laos and Nepal are 256.8kWh and 79.5kWh, respectively. The regression analysis and the Granger causality test show that there is quantitative and causal relationship between the economic growth and residential electricity consumption. The difference in the electricity consumption is thus able to be illustrated by their economic disparity. And moreover, if the linear relationship between the per capita GDP and residential electricity consumption continues in Nepal for many years to come, Nepal can catch up with Laos in terms of residential electricity use when the level of economic development reaches to that of Laos. However, a detailed consideration draws attention to the fact that Nepal is way behind in the electricity generation capacity per capita as compared with Laos. The limitation of installed capacity may suppress the growth of ownership of home appliances and the residential electricity use in Nepal in the near future despite of the high access to electricity and their abundant water resources.