A Spatial Econometric Analysis of the Regional Variations of Residential Energy Consumption in Europe

Abstract

A residential energy consumption model was estimated by using socio-economic characteristics, economic activities, mobility, land cover, natural hazards, governance, energy, air quality, and green economy variables for the EU-27 and UK. Regional variations of the energy consumption were also investigated through focusing on European regional typologies including urban, intermediate, and rural regions. The residential energy consumption model was estimated by using spatial econometric approaches as well as specific regression models were estimated for the urban, intermediate, and rural regions. The key variables used in regression analysis were selected according to their importance using the Random Forest (RF) classification method. The results from the regressions confirm that socio-economic, environmental, governance, technology, and natural hazards related variables explain residential energy consumption in Europe. The variations of sign and coefficients of the variables according to different regional typologies were also uncovered. © 2024 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.