Energy patterns for developing countries- an energy intensity decomposition analysis for economies in Asia and in Latin America

Abstract: Motivated by the increasing importance of today’s environmental issues as well as by the increasing concerns related to energy use, the study is intended to perform an energy intensity decomposition in order to analyze the effects of structural and technical changes on the energy patterns and in specific on the energy intensity of ten major developing countries in Asia and in Latin America. The main focus is placed on the changes that describe the service and industrial sector in these countries and their effects on energy intensity while the results provide some insight concerning the role of these countries in today’s global production system. Changes in the service sector are not significant drivers of the decline in energy intensity for all the countries examined. On the contrary, technological changes in industry and transportation are the main determinants for the decline in total energy intensity for four of the developing countries. For the rest, the strong industrialization process tends to increase energy intensity, a trend that is outweighed by the contribution of the residential sector.