IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v320y2025ics0360544225009211.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Blessing or curse? The effect of population aging on renewable energy

Author

Listed:
  • Lee, Chien-Chiang
  • Yan, Jingyang
  • Xuan, Chengnan

Abstract

Population aging and energy transition are two important issues facing today's society and are key to promoting the long-term balanced development of society. An in-depth study of the links between these two issues can help formulate comprehensive policies to promote sustainable development. This paper examines the link between population aging and renewable energy development using Chinese provincial panel data. The paper draws the following conclusions based on the empirical study. First, population aging does not hinder the development of renewable energy, but promotes energy structure transformation. Second, population aging promotes energy transition by improving energy efficiency and widening the difference between urban and rural energy consumption. Third, income levels, technological innovation and industrial upgrading enhance the enabling effects of population ageing. Finally, the enabling effect of population structure on renewable energy development is more pronounced in the eastern regions, southern regions, resource-based cities and cities with higher economic levels. Based on the findings, this research suggests specific policy recommendations to facilitate energy structure transformation in light of population aging.

Suggested Citation

  • Lee, Chien-Chiang & Yan, Jingyang & Xuan, Chengnan, 2025. "Blessing or curse? The effect of population aging on renewable energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 320(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:320:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225009211
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.135279
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544225009211
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2025.135279?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:320:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225009211. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.