Comparing the impact of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on the economic welfare of Iranian provinces using panel data approach

The purpose of this study was to comparing the impact of renewable and non-renewable energy consumption on the economic welfare of Iranian provinces during the period 2000-2019. In this Research, the Panel Data model was used.

The statistical population studied in this research includes the provinces of Iran research.Time series information about these provinces has been collected from data available in the Energy Balance, Statistics Center and Iran Economic and Financial Database, which using Eviews software was tested. Variables used in this study include: consumption of renewable energy and non-renewable energy sources (solar, hydropower, wind, Geothermal, oil, gas and gasoline), economic welfare, population, labor, unemployment rate, inflation rate, income distribution inequality (Gini coefficient) and real gdp.

The results show that consumption of renewable energy has a positive and significant impact and consumption of non-renewable energy has a negative and significant impact on wellfares. Also, the variables of unemployment rate, inflation rate, and income distribution inequality (Gini coefficient) have a negative and significant effect and the variables of population growth rate, GDP, and labor productivity have a positive and significant effect on economic welfare, which is in accordance with the theoretical foundations of research.

Originality/Value: 

The results showed that the use of renewable energy in the provinces of Iran with respect that it has a greater effect than compared to non-renewable energy in increase economic welfare could by investing in this production unit, the share of renewable energy use in Iran can be increased.