No 2008/16 Electrification and energy productivity

Abstract

Efficiency in energy use is crucial for sustainable development. We use cointegration analyses to investigate the effect of electricity on energy productivity in Swedish industry 1930-1990. Electricity augmented energy productivity in those industrial branches that used electricity for multiple purposes. This productivity effect goes beyond “book-keeping effects”, i. e. it is not only the result of electricity being produced in one sector (taking the energy transformation losses) and consumed in another (receiving the benefits).