IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ehs/wpaper/16024.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

East versus West: Energy transition and energy intensity in coal-rich Europe, 1830-2000

Author

Listed:
  • Hana Nielsen

    (Lund University)

Abstract

"The paper examines energy consumption in Britain, Germany and Czechoslovakia over 130 years, including both traditional and modern energy carriers. The article is based on new series of en- ergy consumption for Czechoslovakia that includes traditional energy sources, and, which is compared to energy use in other coal-rich countries in Europe: Germany and Britain. Changes in energy con- sumption are decomposed into effects from population growth, economic growth and energy intensity. There are two major findings from the long-run transitions we identify. First, by exploring the coal tran- sition for coal-rich versus coal-poor countries in Europe, we find some remarkable similarities between both Germany and Czechoslovakia. We show that when we include Germany, England and the Czech Republic there is in an inverted U-curve in energy intensity, even when traditional energy carriers are taken into account, in contrast with results for four coal-poor countries in the Northern and Southern parts of Europe, where energy intensity was either declining or staying fairly constant in the long run. Secondly, the paper identifies a different transition path after the WII, a period in which Czechoslo- vakia’s energy intensity diverged from the trend observed in previous decades and also in Germany and England. Through a more detailed decomposition of the Czechoslovak energy intensity after 1950, we argue that the rise in energy intensity was a consequence of multiple forces, including high industrial energy use, structural change towards metals and chemicals (the backbone of central plan- ning) and inefficiencies in energy use in those two sectors as well as high transformation losses of the electricity production. We suggest the central-planning system to be the main driver of this develop- ment, but with effects that are particular to some sectors rather than spread across all energy use."

Suggested Citation

  • Hana Nielsen, 2016. "East versus West: Energy transition and energy intensity in coal-rich Europe, 1830-2000," Working Papers 16024, Economic History Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehs:wpaper:16024
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.ehs.org.uk/dotAsset/c00ae60d-6536-408c-afea-21f5a7cb1243.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. repec:bla:kyklos:v:27:y:1974:i:2:p:270-85 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Carlin, Wendy & Schaffer, Mark & Seabright, Paul, 2013. "Soviet power plus electrification: What is the long-run legacy of communism?," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 116-147.
    3. Stern, David I., 2004. "The Rise and Fall of the Environmental Kuznets Curve," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 32(8), pages 1419-1439, August.
    4. Dale W. Jorgenson, 1984. "The Role of Energy in Productivity Growth," The Energy Journal, International Association for Energy Economics, vol. 0(Number 3), pages 11-26.
    5. Kander, Astrid, 2005. "Baumol's disease and dematerialization of the economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 55(1), pages 119-130, October.
    6. Grubler, Arnulf, 2012. "Energy transitions research: Insights and cautionary tales," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 8-16.
    7. Ayres, Robert U. & Warr, Benjamin, 2005. "Accounting for growth: the role of physical work," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 181-209, June.
    8. Henriques, Sofia Teives & Kander, Astrid, 2010. "The modest environmental relief resulting from the transition to a service economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 271-282, December.
    9. Ang, B. W., 2005. "The LMDI approach to decomposition analysis: a practical guide," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(7), pages 867-871, May.
    10. Hiroshi Ohashi & Tsuyoshi Nakamura, 2005. "Technology Adoption, Learning by Doing, and Productivity: A Study from Steel Refining Furnaces," 2005 Meeting Papers 28, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    11. Ayres, Robert U & Ayres, Leslie W & Warr, Benjamin, 2003. "Exergy, power and work in the US economy, 1900–1998," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 219-273.
    12. Urge-Vorsatz, Diana & Miladinova, Gergana & Paizs, Laszlo, 2006. "Energy in transition: From the iron curtain to the European Union," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 34(15), pages 2279-2297, October.
    13. Gomulka, Stanislaw & Rostowski, Jacek, 1988. "An international comparison of material intensity," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 475-501, December.
    14. Kuskova, Petra & Gingrich, Simone & Krausmann, Fridolin, 2008. "Long term changes in social metabolism and land use in Czechoslovakia, 1830-2000: An energy transition under changing political regimes," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1-2), pages 394-407, December.
    15. Tsuyoshi Nakamura & Hiroshi Ohashi, 2005. "Technology Adoption, Learning by Doing, and Productivity: A Study of Steel Refining Furnaces," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-368, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    16. Baumol, William J & Blackman, Sue Anne Batey & Wolff, Edward N, 1985. "Unbalanced Growth Revisited: Asymptotic Stagnancy and New Evidence," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 75(4), pages 806-817, September.
    17. Tsuyoshi Nakamura & Hiroshi Ohashi, 2008. "Effects Of Technology Adoption On Productivity And Industry Growth: A Study Of Steel Refining Furnaces," Journal of Industrial Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 56(3), pages 470-499, September.
    18. repec:ucp:bkecon:9789057420306 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Poznanski, Kazimierz Z, 1990. "Diffusion Performance of Major Steel-Making Countries: Alternative Econometric Tests," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 129-141.
    20. Kander, Astrid & Schon, Lennart, 2007. "The energy-capital relation--Sweden 1870-2000," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 18(3), pages 291-305, September.
    21. Ang, B.W. & Zhang, F.Q., 2000. "A survey of index decomposition analysis in energy and environmental studies," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 25(12), pages 1149-1176.
    22. Casler, Stephen & Hannon, Bruce, 1989. "Readjustment potentials in industrial energy efficiency and structure," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 93-108, July.
    23. Tarr, David G., 1985. "The Efficient Diffusion of Steel Technology Across Nations," Journal of Public Policy, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 541-560, October.
    24. Astrid Kander & Paolo Malanima & Paul Warde, 2013. "Power to the People: Energy in Europe over the Last Five Centuries," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 10138.
    25. Kander, Astrid & Lindmark, Magnus, 2004. "Energy consumption, pollutant emissions and growth in the long run: Sweden through 200 years," European Review of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 8(3), pages 297-335, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Henriques, Sofia Teives & Borowiecki, Karol J., 2017. "The drivers of long-run CO2 emissions in Europe, North America and Japan since 1800," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 537-549.
    2. Henriques, Sofia Teives & Borowiecki, Karol Jan, 2014. "The Drivers of Long-run CO2 Emissions: A Global Perspective since 1800," Discussion Papers on Economics 13/2014, University of Southern Denmark, Department of Economics.
    3. Nielsen, Hana & Warde, Paul & Kander, Astrid, 2018. "East versus West: Energy intensity in coal-rich Europe, 1800–2000," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 75-83.
    4. Kander, Astrid & Warde, Paul & Teives Henriques, Sofia & Nielsen, Hana & Kulionis, Viktoras & Hagen, Sven, 2017. "International Trade and Energy Intensity During European Industrialization, 1870–1935," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 33-44.
    5. Henriques, Sofia Teives & Kander, Astrid, 2010. "The modest environmental relief resulting from the transition to a service economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(2), pages 271-282, December.
    6. Sousa, Tânia & Brockway, Paul E. & Cullen, Jonathan M. & Henriques, Sofia Teives & Miller, Jack & Serrenho, André Cabrera & Domingos, Tiago, 2017. "The Need for Robust, Consistent Methods in Societal Exergy Accounting," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 11-21.
    7. David I. Stern, 2010. "The Role of Energy in Economic Growth," CCEP Working Papers 0310, Centre for Climate & Energy Policy, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    8. Malanima, Paolo, 2021. "Energy, productivity and structural growth. The last two centuries," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 58(C), pages 54-65.
    9. Warr, Benjamin & Ayres, Robert U., 2012. "Useful work and information as drivers of economic growth," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 93-102.
    10. Hana Nielsen, 2018. "Industrial Intensification and Energy Embodied in Trade: Long‐Run Energy Perspective of the Planned Economy of Czechoslovakia," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 22(6), pages 1436-1450, December.
    11. Nielsen, Hana, 2017. "Productive efficiency in the iron and steel sector under state planning: The case of China and former Czechoslovakia in a comparative perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1732-1743.
    12. Lange, Steffen & Pohl, Johanna & Santarius, Tilman, 2020. "Digitalization and energy consumption. Does ICT reduce energy demand?," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    13. Zsuzsanna Csereklyei & M. d. Mar Rubio-Varas & David I. Stern, 2016. "Energy and Economic Growth: The Stylized Facts," The Energy Journal, , vol. 37(2), pages 223-256, April.
    14. Julia K Steinberger & Fridolin Krausmann & Michael Getzner & Heinz Schandl & Jim West, 2013. "Development and Dematerialization: An International Study," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(10), pages 1-11, October.
    15. Savona, Maria & Ciarli, Tommaso, 2019. "Structural Changes and Sustainability. A Selected Review of the Empirical Evidence," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 244-260.
    16. Sorrell, Steve, 2009. "Jevons' Paradox revisited: The evidence for backfire from improved energy efficiency," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 1456-1469, April.
    17. Semieniuk, Gregor, 2024. "Inconsistent definitions of GDP: Implications for estimates of decoupling," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 215(C).
    18. Astrid Kander, 2008. "Is it simply getting worse? Agriculture and Swedish greenhouse gas emissions over 200 years1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 61(4), pages 773-797, November.
    19. Román-Collado, Rocío & Morales-Carrión, Any Viviana, 2018. "Towards a sustainable growth in Latin America: A multiregional spatial decomposition analysis of the driving forces behind CO2 emissions changes," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 273-280.
    20. Heun, Matthew Kuperus & Owen, Anne & Brockway, Paul E., 2018. "A physical supply-use table framework for energy analysis on the energy conversion chain," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 1134-1162.

    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:ehs:wpaper:16024. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Chair Public Engagement Committe (currently David Higgins - Newcastle) (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    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.